The Price of Our Legacy
by Dragonflysoul
Summary: My version of events after Evolution, Pt 1. Whumped Daniel/Awesome Jack. Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, H/C


**Title:** The Price of Our Legacy

**Author:** dragonfly

**Rating:** K+

**Genre:** A/U, A/A, Drama, HU, H/C,

**Summary:** My version of events after Evolution Part One. **Part One: The Search**- Can Daniel hang on long enough for Jack to save him? **Part Two: The Rescue**- Jack has found Daniel, but is he too late? **Part Three: The Race**- Daniel's alive, but can Jack keep him that way as they race for their lives? **Part Four: The End**- How hard is it **really**, to get one archaeologist home alive?

**Author's Note:** I wrote this story without any spoilers, so there will be noticeable differences.

DISCLAIMER: All characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author. Any songs or quotes are also not mine. I'm just using their beauty for entertainment.

"_Brotherhood is the very price and condition of man's survival."_

_-Carlos P. Romulo_

**Part 1- The Search**

He watched it as it crept from the shadows, body ready, eyes fixed on its prey. Curled on his side, Daniel dare not move. Breath held firm in his aching chest, he stared as it inched closer. He had hoped the fierce pounding of his heart would scare it off.

No such luck.

And so another inch was swallowed in the distance between. Daniel saw the look in its eyes and knew it was ready to strike.

And he wondered…does it know?

Does it have any idea where it's about to procure its lunch from? Does this four legged, scaly little beast know that it is currently in the fast food line at a very heavily guarded, underground, guerrilla operation?

…a very heavily guarded, underground, guerrilla operation that just happened to be holding him ransom?

Probably not.

Daniel jumped at its strike and watched in disgust as it munched on the unfortunate fly that had lingered on his forehead for a millisecond too long.

_How embarrassing._

That was the third time Daniel's body had been used as the local reptilian's own personal hunting grounds. And that was only today. He thought briefly that he should instill a cover charge.

The first couple he had shooed away, but now he lacked both care and strength. He could only hope he didn't get a tongue in the eye.

His head hurt. His side hurt. His chest hurt…hell even his big toe hurt. The only part of his body, Daniel considered, that wasn't racked with pain were his eyelashes. On second thought, everything hurt.

After watching the lizard saunter off, full and content, Daniel closed his eyes against the sudden unwelcome feeling of emptiness.

Where the hell was Jack anyway? How long has it been? Four? Five days? Shouldn't he have saved Daniel's sorry ass by now? How much longer was he going to have to hold up this illusion that everything was going to be okay?

That it could be worse.

How much longer…before the mask slipped?

He was so tired. And with exhaustion came delirium.

It was ironic.

Even if he did survive this and Jack just happened to show up in time to save the day, cape and all, Jack was going to kill him. Of course, not before he gave him his, "_How to__** not **__get captured by the bad guys every time you step from my view_," speech—which would then quickly be followed by, _"Not one grey hair Daniel! Not one before I met you!"_ followed by a rub of the head (_I really hate that_) and a quick embrace where as Jack will dub him with yet another colorful nickname. "Jungle monkey" or "Jungle boy," he bet.

_God help me. _

_Hmm? Maybe I'll just stay here with the lizards and the bugs and the power-driven to- quick-to-flog madman. Actually, come to think of it, "Jungle boy" kinda has a ring to it. _

Maybe he could fashion a note around one of the lizards' neck and tell it to go find Jack.

~*~SG1~*~

_Damnit Daniel. _ Jack thought for the fiftieth time since the news of his ill-fortuned archeologist left the General's mouth. He knew it wasn't Daniel's fault (this time anyway), _damn rebels_, but he could do nothing more than focus on Daniel and it was easier being mad at him then worrying.

What was it with his wayward scientist anyway? Did trouble look for him or did it always just know where he was?

_I bet trouble bookmarked Daniel a long time ago._

Okay, so yes. Daniel could be an incredible pain in the ass. His mind must have had to compensate for being so damn brilliant, which is why Daniel was born with no common sense.

_/ "Daniel, don't touch anything. Daniel, stay close. Daniel…Daniel? Damnit, Daniel, I told you not to get too close to the big scary village people with clubs!"/_

His curiosity out-ranked self-preservation every time. It unnerved Jack sometimes, seeing how Daniel always put himself last on the list of concerns. But it wasn't always Daniel Jack was cursing. More like Murphy... or his Law anyway. Pain and unspeakable tragedy seemed to follow Daniel around like a lost puppy. A puppy with really, really big sharp teeth that would start gnawing on Daniel's heart every time it got a whiff of happiness in the linguist's path.

Linguist.

You'd think being a linguist he'd be able to communicate with the puppy o' trouble and tell it to, "_Get! Go home! Go wreak havoc on someone else's life for once."_ _Especially_ since he's the one who **admitted** to having "more successful conversations with dogs." But knowing Daniel, he'd just feel bad—that everybody had their own form of…um…puppy and he'd just tend to his heart like everybody else did. Jack, however, had never known anybody with a puppy like Daniel's.

Ruthless.

Relentless.

Anybody in Daniel's position would have shot the damn puppy by now if not themselves.

But that was the problem wasn't it?

…or was it?

Daniel had an almost unhealthy ability to deal. He accepted all the pain in his life because he looked at it as his human right, er, curse to be…uh, cursed.

Anyway, digressing here…

Dannyboy will be okay. He's always okay. Even when he's dead, he miraculously turns out to be okay.

He has to be okay.

**Okay?**

~*~SG1~*~

Daniel couldn't breathe. His lungs were on fire and his head was going to explode. Or was it the other way around?

Not that it mattered.

_**/'Come to Central America, witness the beauty, find an ancient alien artifact, **__**get kidnapped and tortured to death/**__**'**_ he really had to start reading the brochure's fine print. Right now he'd choose Apophis' nasty ass over, "Mr. Beats me a lot." At least Apophis had an agenda, a purpose. (Destroy earth, seek revenge, win "Worst False God of the Year" award, yadda, yadda, yadda).

This guy had nothing! He didn't demand information from him, not even about the artifact (not that he'd give it anyway). He didn't even want to make him into a creature of the night…or …universe.

The only significant thing that seemed to be on this guy's agenda was pain. Daniel's pain.

7a.m. Beat Daniel.

8a.m. Demand ransom.

10a.m. Beat Daniel.

12 Noon. Lunch.

1p.m. Beat Daniel.

2p.m. Cancel anger management meeting.

4p.m. Find something new to beat Daniel with.

5pm. Invite mom over for roasted lizard.

8pm. Try nifty new torture device on Daniel.

He had nothing to work with here! It was almost as if the guy was possessed and he bet, no, he _knew_ it had something to do with that artifact.

_Madness and addiction, _he remembered telling Dr. Lee that right before…

If only he could have gotten a better look at it…read some of the inscription. He could figure out how to turn it off…or …whatever. If he could just get to it.

Actually, at this point, he'd be happy if he could just open his eyes. But even if he could get past the nausea and dizziness, he didn't think the swelling would allow it.

_**Jack? Where the hell are you?**_

~*~SG1~*~

Carter and Teal'c are out saving the universe …again. And here he was saving Daniel…again. History sure does have a habit of repeating itself.

Not that he minded.

One might say that his universe would cease to exist if he didn't get a certain archeologist back in one solid, breathing piece ….and he might be inclined to agree…maybe…probably…yeah okay it's one big honkin' definitely.

But so help him if that gets out.

He already gets smirks left and right for his _sometimes_ overprotective and fatherly-like relationship he has with Dannyboy. But who could blame him?

_For cryin out loud, have you ever once looked into those big blue eyes? _

Jack ran his hands down his face as the pilot asked him to prepare for landing_. _

_I can't lose him again. I won't. Losing one son was enough. Losing a surrogate one again and again_…Jack shuddered at the thought.

_**Just hang on Daniel, I'm coming.**_

~*~SG1~*~

_**Just hang on Daniel, I'm coming.**_

"Ja. ..ck?"

Daniel licked his lips, though it was pointless because his tongue was just as dry.

"Ja'k?"

He swore he had heard him. But reaching out his arm he was greeted by only bugs and…bugs. _Oh great…now I'm hallucinating_, he thought as he laid his searching arm over his eyes.

It was about time for another… "session" and with each one passing Daniel grew weaker, not only in body but in spirit. The illusion was slipping and reality was moving in with a vengeance. He wouldn't give up, but he wasn't sure there would be anything left to save by the time help found him. He wasn't sure how long it would be before he gave out.

A harsh round of coughing ended his mental declaration and tremors ran through his body. Although contrary to the popular belief of his happy little host and helpers, it was not out of fear that his body trembled, but as a reminder of the exhaustion and pain that his mind had been trying so desperately to elude.

~*~SG1~*~

"_Decisions determine destiny"_

_-Frederick Speakman_

Alone. Chasing the rising sun, Jack drove down a narrow dirt road to the first of two destinations.

The first, being a village.

The second, being Daniel.

His eyes watched the road, but did not see it. His weary heart let his mind wander to another place, another time…

_/ "Sometimes you can only do so much Daniel. Go so far. And as painful as it is to recognize that line, it's even harder to come back from beyond it empty-handed."_

"_That may be true, Jack. And I'm sorry… but I'd rather test the boundaries of the impossible, than live by them. I couldn't live with myself otherwise, Jack." His eyes pleaded for understanding. "Knowing that something else could have been done, if only I looked a little harder, went a little further. And I think you know where I'm coming from Jack…"_

"_Yeah, Daniel, maybe I do. Maybe I do."/_

…and he did. Jack understood where he was coming from. He fought with the same unremitting determination when it came to his team. But Daniel didn't even know these people.

There was a big, cosmic, stormy thing-a-ma-jig coming straight for them, which would wipe out their whole civilization. But did they heed their warning? Nooooo. Would they agree to relocate? Of course not.

They had spent an entire day trying to convince the Suebaris that they would die if they didn't evacuate the planet, but they were too afraid to leave all they had ever known behind.

_Even with death knocking on their doors?_

Anyhoo, it was the Enkarans all over again. This time though, _only _Daniel had the power to save them. He did his best and if they didn't get out of there pronto the Suebaris weren't going to be the only ones meeting their makers. Still, Daniel insisted on trying one more time to get through to them…to get them to understand.

...and that's when it hit Jack. _About time eh?_

Daniel was never going to change.

Covered in mud, standing out in the freezing wind and rain with certain death nipping at their heels… he realized, then and there, that Daniel Jackson was never going to change…And he decided he didn't want him to. He would forever be the _geeky_ archeologist who surpasses the unexpected and goes far beyond the impossible to help those in need.

No…Jack didn't want him to change, because if he did, he would lose his best friend. _His _best friend fought with a passion Jack had come to realize he would never truly be able understand. _His_best friendlived and breathe with compassion of such, that no soul who has been through as much as he, should ever posses.

Jack had witnessed him willingly put his hand in the flame, countless times, to help others.

_Like the world didn't burn him enough. _

Still, he sacrificed.

Gave when he had nothing left to give.

Struggled through battles, whose war had already been lost.

_His _best friend _never_ gave up…and that's what Jack held onto as the road bounced him out of his reverie and back into the merciless jungle.

~*~SG1~*~

Daniel now lay on his side after finally winning a round of "catch your breath." Head pillowed on his arm, he tried to control the tremors as he thought back to a time when pain wasn't constantly knocking on his door and letting itself in.

Abydos instantly flooded his mind.

Sha'uri.

He had cursed the only happiness he had ever known since his parents' death with curiosity.

By unburying that damn gate.

Perhaps it's true then, perhaps he does deserve this. Not only did he destroy _his_ life, but countless others…Abydos no longer existed because of him. He thought he'd be able to help more by being ascended. The only thing he accomplished was getting his naked ass thrown out of Angels 101.

No fallen angel was he though. He was more like a…regurgitated archeologist.

Now a _beaten,_ regurgitated archeologist.

~*~SG1~*~

Damn it's hot. Hot and …buggy. Bugs. Bugs Bunny_! _

_Hey, what kind of name is that, anyway? Were his parents like entomologists or something?_ Jack thought, as he walked through the village, looking for his contact and thanking his unfailing ability to distract himself with senseless thoughts in the most inappropriate and stressful times.

Cornelius Wallas.

That's who supposedly knows where Daniel and Dr. Lee were being held. A friend of a friend of a friend of Jack's—who has allegedly been down here on official business for the past twenty-eight months.

Sounded a bit too long, but _whatever_. Jack didn't really care who this guy was or what his "story" was, just as long as he could help get his scientist or, actually, scientist**s **back. Jack mentally apologized to Dr. Lee.

It wasn't that he didn't like the guy. Jack just kinda…forgot about him. Actually he had a nasty habit of forgetting about a lot of things when his archeologist was, so to speak, "staring down the wrong end of a barrel," "up the creek without a paddle," "going the wrong way on a one way street," having jumped off a cliff, to, as usual, build his wings on the way down, only to realize that he left his duct tape in his other pants.

And Jack was rewarded with another gray hair every time.

Against normal ransom protocol, due to the extreme sensitivity of the situation (that being the kidnapper possibly had, not only two employees of the biggest kept secret in the world, but a powerful alien device in his possession), the money was put together immediately and an exchange was planned (unbeknownst to the Nicaraguan Government.)

Jack wanted to be there, but Hammond thought it would be best for him to stand down and wait until _after_ the exchange to meet up with the scientists…to meet up with Daniel.

_Best for who?_

As pissed as Jack was for being ordered _not_ to go get his teammate out of what was most likely a Godforsaken hell, it was nowhere near the rage he felt when he had learned that the kidnappers never showed up for the exchange. He wanted to vomit when he thought of the possible reason behind their absence.

They had nothing left to barter.

Instead of getting up close and personal with the porcelain god, he went berserk. Yelling and cursing in a fashion that would make Sokar himself blush. And that's when Jack decided to switch to Plan B. **HIS **PLAN B. This involved him, his P-90 and death to anyone that got in his way.

Not that he shared that bit of information with the General.

Not that the General didn't know.

"_Get our boys back,"_ is what he told Jack before he stormed out of the building. And damnit that was just what he was going to do.

~*~SG1~*~

"_The biggest thing in today's sorrow is the memory of yesterday's joy."_

_- Kahbil Gibran_

_/She laughed under the moonlight and he lost his breath in the stars that twinkled in her eyes. He will stay with this woman forever. He will live for the sole purpose of loving her for the rest of his days. His happiness was seeing her smile. His completion was loving her in a way and strength he never knew possible. Sometimes he was at a loss for words when looking upon her face. Yet she was every language he had ever learned, every horizon he'd been witness to and every sunset he has ever gazed upon. She was everything he had ever accomplished in his life, everything he had ever looked upon in his life and thought of as beautiful. She was his past, present and future. She was his wife. His love. The rightful and only owner of his heart and soul. She was Sha'uri. And with a sudden agonizing jolt, Daniel remembered that she was dead. /_

He awoke with a start and a replenished age-old sorrow. Quickly, he wiped away the tears and memories that ran down his face, paying little attention or care to the wounds that already took up residency there. His hands trembled in the task and he cursed them. How was he supposed to put on a brave and in-control front when his own body wouldn't comply? It had been so many years since she had died—even more since he had lost her…and **still **his soul ached for her's, reached out for her's, mourned for her's.

~*~SG1~*~

It was nagging at him like a kid who wanted ice cream. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

_Damnit. _

_Think. _

_Think. _

_Think._

Jack mentally kicked himself. It was right there. Just outside his grasp. If he could just…_The Mummy! That's it!_

The guy walking towards him, whom he presumed to be none other than Cornelius Wallas, looked just like that guy from that movie Daniel made him watch. "The Mummy." Daniel_ insisted _that he watch it—said how wonderful it was and then picked it apart like a piece of moldy bread. Even, Jack noticed, the non-moldy parts of bread were mercilessly scrutinized. He supposed for Daniel it was just a blasty time with archeology fun.

Of course, that's neither here nor there. Although, his guide _did_ look like he just got finished sucking a few poor saps dry.

_Mmm… I wonder if he has an unnatural fear of cats_?

~*~SG1~*~

It was so long ago, but the memory was clear enough in Daniel's mind to be yesterday…

_/The pleasant mixture of food, candles and pine filled the air and he breathed it in deeply, while feelings of anticipation and pure content filled his heart._

_This is where he needed to be…this is where he **wanted** to be. _

_With his friends on Christmas. _

_He only wished he could share this moment with Sha'uri._

_Jack had ordered…or, invited, everyone over on Christmas Eve so that he could "spread his holiday cheer." Daniel had realized that it was the first Christmas since Charlie's death that Jack had allowed himself to indulge in the "spirit" of Christmas. And Daniel himself had to admit to never having "embraced" the holiday hoo-ha. So, risking his heart growing 3 times today, he accepted Jack's order…er…offer._

_Wrapping paper littered the floor as if a permanent replacement for the carpet and Daniel smiled. It had been a long time since he had felt so…at home. _

_Christmas music filtered through the soft musings of his friends and Daniel closed his eyes to the sweet lullaby._

"_Hey." _

_He opened them again to see Jack extending a package towards him. "You forgot one." _

_Daniel took the package and eyed his friend suspiciously. "I already got a present from you Jack…and forever I will cherish my very own Apophis-Bobble-Head." _

"_That was just to warm you up!" he hollered over his shoulder as he walked back into the kitchen to get his drink. "This is your **real** present."_

_Daniel eyed the package. It wasn't like the rest. Red, green and fancy ribbon didn't conceal its contents. Instead, simple brown paper and twine did the job. Daniel's heart swelled at the simple gesture. He was never one for shiny looking new things…he studied the past and though occasionally dull, he sought comfort in its simplicity. Until now, he never thought Jack had understood that…or for that matter, appreciated it. _

_Carefully releasing his gift from its confines, Daniel's eyes welled with tears. It was beautiful. And suddenly, "eloquent in its simplicity" held a whole new meaning._

_The cover was a solid piece of oak with, "Daniel's Family" carved in its center. Various hieroglyphics repetitiously bordered the cover, translating into, "Courage, Love, and Family." _

_The binding was another solid piece of oak, along with the hinges that held it all together. Daniel marveled at the craftsmanship. He had seen a lot of miraculous things in his life, but still couldn't get over how something so simple, so beautiful could also be so…well, functional. It was beyond his capabilities, he knew that._

"_I made it," Jack said sitting down on the coffee table in front of him._

_Daniel's eyes went wide. "Wow, **really**?" He couldn't hide his surprise. "Wow, Jack…it's beautif…Jaaack!" Raising his eyebrows, Daniel looked up to study his friend. "You didn't make this," he said matter-of-factly with a grin threatening to let itself be seen._

"_What?!" Jack had the nerve to act shocked. "Did the 'Made in Taiwan' sticker give it away?" he asked, turning the book over in the archeologist's hand in search of the dead give away._

"_Uh…no… but the price tag did," Daniel offered, and held up his sleeve to reveal the traitor that had clung to him._

"_Aw…geez…damnit! Give me that!" Jack grabbed the ever elusive party crasher. "I thought you said you took it off, Carter?"_

"_I did, sir. The one on the inside, anyway. I didn't think there'd be two," she winced. "Sorry."_

_Everyone was snickering. **Including** Teal'c, which, before now Daniel had thought was anatomically impossible._

"_I **bought** the book and had a professional carve it…but it doesn't matter anyway because what I made…er…" Jack paused and looked back at two of his teammates. "…what **we** made is inside.**" **After watching his friend trace the carvings for yet another whole minute Jack couldn't take it anymore. "So, Daniel, are you gonna marry the cover or open it?"_

_Without looking up, Daniel hesitantly opened the book and whatever his reaction may have been, caught in his throat. Inside, the pages were made up of thick parchment paper, with the edges worn and dyed to make them look graced with age. Pictures filled the pages and although most of them couldn't date back to more than a few years ago, each one held an antique appearance that complimented the pages they resided on. Poems and writings danced around the collages in English,Abydonian **and **where his parents graced, hieroglyphics._

_The photographs ranged from holiday and birthday parties, to parties celebrating a victory of a close, but safe return. From pictures of him sleeping at his desk (Hey!), to the few he had of his parents. There were even pictures from his first mission to Abydos. _

_With his thumb, Daniel lightly caressed the image of him and his wife while_ _tears threatened release. Somebody had taken a picture of their last kiss before the demon claimed her soul along with his. Why didn't he stay? Why didn't she go with him? Why did he pick that precise moment to go show off his discovery of the Cartouche Room? _

_Abydonian filled the pages around their picture. Daniel wasn't going to read it, but an irrational need enveloped him, especially since time had barely whispered by since he had buried his love and said his final farewells to hope._

_Tracing the language that made him fall in love with his wife, Daniel could no longer hold back the tears that rushed to the surface on the wings of memories. It was part of a poem; an Ancient Egyptian poem he recited to his wife after they had defeated Ra. Jack must have gotten it from Kasuf._

"_**Your hand is in my hand, my body trembles with joy,**_

_**my heart is exalted because we walk together."**_

_He didn't know what to say, so Jack spoke for him. "Carter did most of the writings with help from Teal'c on the Abydonian and SG-3's archeologist with the hieroglyphics. I gathered up all the pictures and had them manipulated to look old." Pausing a moment with concern, Jack leaned in to get a better look at Daniel and realized that **his** archeologist was truly and actually speechless. "I was just as surprised to find this one Daniel," he added, placing a hand over the one that still held the Abydonian princess._

_After getting over the initial shock and nostalgia, the rest of the night had passed as a peaceful dream. They played games, which, Cassie mostly won and Jack mostly cheated at and ate until they could barely move. /_

Realizing now, as the hut enveloped him once again and Christmas music was replaced by the monotonous droning of insects, Daniel couldn't remember saying "thank you" to any of them. He was so lost in the pages and then Janet and Cassie had come..._God_, add that to the list of things he needed to do when he got back—including scrubbing off the permanent marker that's been on his forehead for the better part of his life reading, "Open for torturing."

~*~SG1~*~

"_Even a drowning man will clutch at a straw."_

_-Proverb_

Jack decided immediately that he liked the guy. He got straight to the point. No song and dance.

Cornelius walked right up to him, introduced himself and told him that he was certain that one of his scientists was dead.

Okay…

So he might as well of walked right up to him, introduced himself and stabbed him IN THE HEART TEN TIMES.

It would have been less painful.

He would have been able to recover quicker.

But now that it was said and done and he was bleeding to death, Jack decided that it wasn't Daniel.

It couldn't be.

He'd know it.

His internal "DID-AR" (Daniel is Dead –Again Radar) would be going bonkers by now. Okay. So, yes, his **"**DIT-AR" (Daniel in Trouble-Again Radar) was in danger of blowing up, but "DID-AR" has been dormant for a couple of months now.

_Wow…is that a record?_ Congrats to Daniel…he finally gets a star for staying alive for an extended period of time. And Jack was gonna make sure it made it to his refrigerator.

"Handez Fernandez."

"Excuse me?" Jack asked as he was pulled from his reverie.

"Handez Fernandez is who took your men, Colonel," Cornelius said, bending over to pull something from his pack.

"Ouch. With a name like that it kinda makes it easier to understand why a guy would…" Jack's words fell silent as a picture from a high-powered camera was brought up before him; revealing a very weary, battered and way too-bloodied Daniel, kneeling next to a very dead Dr. Lee.

~*~SG1~*~

At first…

He remembered that he had played it cool, balancing on the fine line of submissive and defiant.

Sarcastic yet obedient, he would wait for help. He knew it would come.

Daniel knew _he_ would come.

Then…

He fought.

He was quickly coming to the end of his, Survival Instincts Manual and he didn't want to wait around long enough to get sucked into the last chapter.

The man would not listen to reason, or threats for that matter and Daniel was running out of time. It was not that he didn't have faith in his team. He knew they would come. But would they come in time?

Now…

Beaten into submission, he waited.

He wanted to scream for help, for Jack, until his throat failed him. But he knew that would only succeed in adding fuel to his captors' already searing mirth.

So, he waited. Choiceless.

_/ "Many prisoners talk as you do. 'My friends will come and save me.' Gives them hope." /_

Choiceless, but not hopeless.

~*~SG1~*~

Jack placed the picture in his pocket painfully against his heart. Knowing that Daniel was alive, but still in that bastards grasp, was like putting a simple band-aid on after open heart surgery and being asked to sing and dance to, "If you're happy and you know it…"

Fear and anger battled fiercely within him. He could not remember ever wanting…_needing_ so badly to end a life and save another at the same time. It tore at him thoroughly, as did the look on Daniel's face in that picture.

To the outsider, just a weary, battered and bloodied archeologist would have been seen. To an overprotective friend and commander**…**hope.

After checking their gear and maps, Jack and Cornelius set out to catch a miracle by its wings. They may be fools, but they were not blind fools. They knew what they were walking into, and they knew the odds of them walking back out were not in their favor. And they didn't care, at least Jack didn't. If he was going to die, he was not going to do it with his back turned on his best friend.

Walking through the village, Jack's hand tightened on his P-90. He figured the villagers were used to seeing automatic weapons saunter through their homes, and he doubted any of Handez's goons would be out looking for him (especially since _they're_ the ones that didn't show up for the exchange) but, still, he was ready…for anything. And anybody that came near him could see the same.

Reaching the tree line Jack shifted his pack and noticed its heaviness with both pride and sorrow…

_/She moved with an efficiency anyone would admire. No movement was wasted. Every thought put into action before it even reached her mind._

_It was her job to care for people—treat them for their wounds and send them on their way. From fending off a common cold, to hand to hand combat with the grim reaper, she did her job…and she did it well; carrying it out with a mask of profession._

_Even when she stood over Daniel, as he took his last breath, and Jack had asked her to let him go, her mask barely faltered. And he knew that holding it in place was the only thing that kept her from falling apart._

_So, **surprised** wouldn't even come close to describing what he felt, when he stumbled upon a scene in the infirmary…_

_The entire place was in chaos. Staff was running back and forth, heeding Janet's orders as quickly and efficiently as possible. _

_**Sure you might be thinking, and…so…therefore? That's their job, that's her job. And…you got me there. But, in the center of the pandemonium was no injured member of the elite SGC. Nope. Instead lay a single pack, MY pack that was growing fatter by the seconds.**_

"_Doc? What's going on? What is all this?" he asked, slowly raising his eyebrows._

"_Oh, Colonel, I'm glad you're here," she hurried towards him while dishing out a list of items she wanted S.T.A.T., to every person she crossed paths with._

"_I'm putting together some extra medical supplies in case you need them for Daniel," she said, turning her head and grabbing a nurse when she remembered something else. "Meagan, don't forget Doctor Jackson's anti-histamine medication, his last shot is probably wearing off by now." _

"_Yes, Doctor," confirmed that the order would be followed._

_Realizing, but not believing what was happening, Jack gently grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her to face him. Speaking firmly to snap her out of it, "**Janet**."_

_He could tell she was struggling. She couldn't look at him, instead her sight rested on her feet. "He'd be more comfortable, sir, if he had his…"_

"_Janet," he tried again, gentler this time to get her to look at him._

_Her eyes darted now from her toes to his chest and back. "Permission to speak freely, sir?" _

"_Janet," though it was barely above a whisper, it was enough to break the mask that had been holding back her emotions for over seven years._

"_We just got him back, sir," she cried._

"_I know," was all he could say as he pulled her into his embrace. "I know."_

"_We just got him back…"/_

Never had he seen Janet without her professional mask. Sure, there had been the rare occurrences when only her _closest_ friends could detect a slip, and even fewer occasions, where he swore it hung by a thread. But _never_ in all the years she'd worked there, in all the years he'd known her, had her mask lay crumbled at her feet—unchecked and completely forgotten, drowning in her own tears.

~*~SG1~*~

"_Remember that pain has this most excellent quality: if prolonged, it cannot be severe, and if severe it cannot be prolonged."_

_- Seneca_

_It really couldn't, could it?_

Get any worse, that is.

Ok. So, yes…he could die…but right now…right now, he was ashamed to admit that he wanted to put out that Welcome mat a long time ago. When Dr. Lee…when he had gotten pulled from his grasp and drug out of the hut…Daniel knew…they _both_ knew that he was going to be the "example."

_Bastards. _

Then something happened. It wasn't about the money anymore. It didn't seem to be about anything anymore.

Just pain and pleasure.

Daniel's pain and _his_ sadistic pleasure.

Daniel could almost sense a power growing within Handez (or as he liked to call him, "Handy-whip"). No matter what he used the outcome was the same; a pain so deep, he feared his body might break in half with every strike made against him. It was getting to the point that if Daniel saw him walk in with a wet noodle he might actually cringe.

Though recently he had come to realize that the Telchak Device was _intensifying_ his pain—go fig—and that "Handy-whip" was literally _feeding_ off of it…the insight was far from useful and his captor's power was quickly becoming unbearable.

He was so cold and…bloody, he thought, as he managed to crack an eye open and survey himself.

_Is that all **my** blood? _

_That can't be good. _

The air inside the hut was thick, clinging to the roof of his mouth as he had no other choice but to breathe it in. Sweat met with blood and soaked into the earth. The smell assaulted him and carried its own memento of pain and torture.

A moan escaped his clenched teeth as he tried to sit up and escaped again when he was unsuccessful. It took all he had to suck in the stale atmosphere—pain encompassing his chest with each agonizing breath.

Suddenly a new pain latched onto him like a symbiote to its host, coursing through his body searching for relief but finding none. And if Daniel's eyes weren't shut so tightly against it, he would have seen "Handy-whip" standing over him with an ominous grin on his face and the artifact in his hands.

Luckily, before his eyes could have been pried open to witness his captor's glee, his pain turned into oblivion and he found himself floating in its ignorance.

_The last chapter._

He had no pain here.

No worries.

No cares as to what kind of mutilation was being done to his body this time. Just ignorant bliss. He wondered for a second what he did to deserve this… reprieve. But quickly and selfishly decided that he didn't care. There was only one thing he was worried about now.

Jack.

No doubt trekking across a jungle to save him, only to end up blaming himself for the rest of his life for not making it in time.

_**I'm so sorry Jack, I tried…I tried.**_

~*~SGI~*~

_**I'm so sorry Jack, I tried…I tried.**_

Stopping in his tracks, Jack turned around to see if the mummy, er...Cornelius had heard that too, but by the way he was swatting at those terminator bugs, he took a wild guess that he hadn't.

_Great. There goes another screw that's been holding my mind precariously together since I met Daniel. _

Unless, of course, this was some weird, telepathic (he never would have thought that unless he was truly going insane) farewell from Daniel, which, in that case…

_**I don't think so, Dannyboy! I'm not donating half my blood to Central America's own personal blood bank on wings, so that I can bring home 'linguist o' rigor mortis'!**_

_**Just hang on Daniel, damnit. Just hang on, I'm coming…I'm coming.**_

Jack didn't _fully_ understand why he was yelling at Daniel in his mind…nor did he care to analyze his mental state (he was never much of a Freud fan). He did, however, quicken his pace as he tried to quell the sickening feeling that came over him.

_**Damnit Daniel, just hang on. I'm coming. I'm coming.**_

~*~SGI~*~

He was hearing voices again. Jack's to be precise—telling him to, "hang on."

_Hang on to what? _

_Jack?_

_There's nothing here, Jack. _

_There's nothing left. _

The darkness was his mercy and he bathed in it. He couldn't remember that last time he had felt so good. So free. Even when he was ascended there where restrictions. But here. Now. He felt he could do anything.

It was so peaceful.

Stars danced around him as if they had been pulled straight from the night—playfully tugging at his hair and tickling him from his head to his toes.

Where the blood no longer soiled.

Where the pain no longer ached.

They wanted him to follow.

And so he did.

_"Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire." _

_-Jorge Luis Borges_

**Part II- The Rescue**

He wanted it to be over with—the search that is, but more importantly the rescue. He wanted his scientist to be tucked safely away in his designated infirmary bed, already begging him to talk Frasier into letting him go home.

Damnit. He needed to see him. Something just wasn't right…aside from the painfully obvious. It was almost like… the closer to Daniel they got…the farther away he felt.

The camp where Daniel and Dr. Lee were spotted being held was less than a few hours away; they should reach it by mid-day, but Jack couldn't swallow the fear of finding his archeologist dead, or worse…finding only the husk of the man he had known as his best friend.

Jack had seen Daniel bounce back from great physical _and_ spiritual pain so many times, that he swore the kid's soul was made out of rubber. Rubber, but unfortunately, in this case, not glue… because even as he desperately raced through the forest to catch that very soul—to keep it from falling and shattering its magnificence all over the jungle's callous bottom, he could feel it slipping away, along with his military mask.

The body wasn't designed to sustain torture (though ironically some have mastered the "art" of giving it) and the mind can only protect for so long. It only has so many strategies, so many chapters of protection before it needs to hide itself…in an endless waking dream.

~*~SGI~*~

His entire life was based on minutes, hours, days. Fighting time to get more work done, counting the seconds between life and death…on numerous occasion.

He was two minutes late to save Sha'uri and Skaara.

The cover stones that crushed his parents fell in a matter of seconds.

Time, Daniel realized, was his life's keeper.

But no more.

He finally found a sanctuary from the endless ticking of the day.

Time was of no matter here. It simply didn't exist. There was nothing to measure your success or criticize your failures with.

You just…were.

Timeless and weightless, he soared through the night towards the ancient light in the distance. He could already feel its warmth reaching out to him, beckoning him closer. Urging him to see.

He knew he should stop, knew he was forgetting something. But what? He had a vague recollection of something…someone searching for him. Maybe he should wait. Maybe he should go back. But it was so beautiful…and _big_. It was everywhere; stretching out into the furthest corners of the night. Surely they'd know to look for him there. Maybe he'd just take a quick look.

Making up his mind, Daniel reached out to the light. He could already feel a brilliant peace making its way through his body, slowly enveloping him like a warm blanket. It was unlike any other feeling he had every experienced…worldly, universally or higher plan, for that matter.

Before he knew it he was completely cocooned in the light…in another world. But the only one Daniel had known for the last year.

He was finally home from his long journey into the desert.

~*~SGI~*~

Four years earlier…

_/She had watched her love, as he watched her. She stood at his side, while he sat by hers. She felt his hand in hers, but he did not feel as she tried to wipe away his tears. "It will be alright, my love," she whispered in his ear as he searched her still form. "Together we will be again."_

_She wanted to comfort him, as he sat there at her side in his wheelchair with the telltale marks of the demon's assault already branded on his forehead. She wanted to remind him that it was okay now—the evil inside her was gone. Her body was free. But the only comfort she was allowed to leave him with was her memory. So she waited and watched him seek solace in the memories of their love, until it was time for her soul to be weighed and set free, along with her body./_

~*~SGI~*~

_"Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away."_

_-Tom Clancy_

Daniel had been disappointed at finding nothing of significance, but it didn't matter anymore. All the worries of his trip faded away with the smile of his wife. He could see her running through the village towards him, and he quickened his pace. Had it really been a whole week? An entire week without her hands, without the smell of her hair, the sound of her breath lulling him to sleep at night? God, how did he survive?

They reached each other at full speed and didn't stop until the impact of their desire brought them to their knees. Holding onto each other as if the galaxy were trying desperately to tear them apart, there was no strength left for words.

~*~SGI~*~

The villagers started to gather around them. Some were crying. Some were laughing. And everyone was hooting when Sha'uri placed a kiss on him that would quench a dying man's thirst. She had lived without those lips, without the safety of his touch and sparkle in his eyes for far too long... too many agonizing years. Now, she had her husband back in her arms and at last they were going get the chance to live out their dreams…together.

~*~SGI~*~

If Jack didn't know better, he'd swear that lizard was watching him…even calling out to him. But he _did_ know better which… made… that… whole last thought…inane._ This,_ come to think of it, described most of Jack's thoughts when trying to avoid worry. What he _couldn't_ avoid, however, was the fact that his "star guide" was sweating exponentially the closer they got to the camp, and it was not to the rhythm of the rising heat.

"You alright there, Wallas?" Jack asked, hoping to get an answer as to why he'd soon be needing to hike up his pants.

Turning around to look at Jack, Cornelius' face held fear and uncertainty. "Colonel, I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into."

Jack just stared at him._ Somebody pinch me, _he thought_. Better yet, somebody pinch __**him**__._

"I know what **I'm **getting into, Wallas. However, I'm beginning to wonder if you know what **you're **getting into," he said slowly.

Cornelius looked down at his feet and Jack thought, _Uh-oh…Ladies and Gentleman, would you please give a nice round of applause for __**moooore drama**__!_

"Colonel…"

Jack instantly whipped his hand up, cutting off whatever his guide was going to say. "Wallas, if you find you know me intimately enough to **screw me**!" Jack yelled the last few words. "Then please, by all means, call me Jack," he finished sardonically.

"No Jack…uh…Colonel, it's not that."

Jack raised his eyebrows unbelievably at the use of his first name.

"I have long dreamed of being a hero for my country, _our _country, Colonel and that of my ancestors. I have done many things in the service of our nation. Saved many lives, but not in the field. Not at the risk of my own. Some might consider me a hero. But I do not."

"_Annnnnd?_" Jack drawled out, not seeing where this was going.

"I thought this would be _my _opportunity. _My_ moment to shine. Not only because it was the right thing to do, but because it was a risk to myself. I will take you to your man, Colonel…but after reassessing the risk, I am not so certain I can help you retrieve him."

Jack didn't know what to say that didn't start with, "You selfish little chicken bastard!" so…he just stuck with that.

~*~SGI~*~

"'_Til my body is dust_

'_Til my soul is no more_

_I will love you, love you…"_

_-Fisher_

Daniel was strangely exhausted_ and_ exhilarated. The journey had been a long one—drawn out by the absence of his wife, but seeing her again has filled his body with life. He wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry. He wanted to dance—to lift her up and match her beauty to the stars. To stroke her hair as they spooned after making love. To whisper, "I love you's" in her ear as they cast their dreams into the night. Mostly though, he just wanted to hold her for the rest of his life. But he'd settle for tonight…and the night after that, and the night after that—until their bodies turned to dust, and the wind carried their intertwined souls off to dance in eternity.

Walking through the village toward their home, surrounded by their family and friends, Daniel was glad that he had decided not to reopen the gate. His week long expedition had reminded him that no discovery in the universe would ever be able to compare to the one he had waiting for him at home.

He couldn't get over how much he had missed her. His body felt as if it had been aching to hold her for years. She filled a void in him that not even the biggest discovery on earth could.

She filled a void in him, where he had never imagined happiness residing again.

~*~SGI~*~

"_Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."_

_-Anthony Brandt_

"Colonel, you don't understand. It's not my life that I fear for, but my livelihood. If I go with you into that camp…my assignment will be over, along with my life as I know it here. My cover would most likely be blown and I'd be forced to leave with you."

"And? So? Therefore?" Jack asked impatiently while trying to pump the anger back out of his fists. Getting no response he continued on, this time waving his hand in the air. "That…okay…what you just said…was that supposed to make my heart bleed for you, so I'd take back my previous statement? _**Which**__,_ by the way, still stands," he added, resting his arm on his P-90.

Yet again, Cornelius found the ground less threatening to look at than Jack. "I…" he started. "I've been down here for a very long time, Colonel. A_ very_ long time. And in that time…things can happen, by no other fault than fate alone," he defended quickly.

Jack was losing his patience and the reins on his anger for that matter. "Wallas! Spit! It! Out!" he yelled, enunciating each word with his hands.

"The first time I met her was over a year after I'd been assigned. For a few months I kept her at a distance, refused to get personal with her…refused to let her near my heart." Cornelius paused, taking in a deep breath that carried the courage he needed to continue. "It was one morning, seven months to the day I met her, when I realized that I succeeded in not letting her near my heart, but that something worse had happened. I had failed in my ultimate resolve. I did not let her near my heart, Colonel, but somehow, somewhere in the short time I knew her, she took possession of it. It was then I knew I could no longer protect it. And I didn't want to…not from her. Soon after that we were married, and now we are expecting a child."

Jack let out a loud sigh and took off his hat to scrub at his head. That was an unfortunate, unexpected _doozey _that he didn't have an answer for. Luckily though, he packed plenty of advice. "Wallas…" he began, putting his hat back on and using his infamous single cough to clear his mind before continuing, "…not to sound unsympathetic, but you're not the only man that has gone into battle with a family waiting at home and you certainly won't be the last."

Cornelius was about to object, but was again cut off by Jack's finger flying up to slice the air between them.

"Albeit, you're the first I've met that will most likely never get to see his family again even if you do survive. So let me just say this," Jack stepped closer and put a hand on Cornelius' shoulder. "You have a choice. _You_ have to decide what is more important to you. Your family… or dying for something you believe in." He suddenly felt like he was playing the devil's advocate. "Either way, you'll be losing something you never imagined getting the chance to experience. Either way, you'll be losing a dream."

Keeping his head down, Cornelius refused to look Jack in the eyes, but Jack knew he was listening. "I can tell you this much, though. Being a hero does not mean you have the luxury to choose for whom, or when you're going to die. It means sacrifices. It means, not thinking about your own wants and needs."

"But that doesn't matter here anyway," Jack continued, stepping back. "…because no matter what you choose to do today, Wallas, you'll be a hero. You just have to decide whose. Your family's… or mine?"

~*~SGI~*~

"'_Til the sun starts to cry_

_And the moon turns to rust_

_I will love you, love you…"_

_-Fisher_

Stepping inside after bidding goodnight to everyone, Sha'uri wasted no time. "My husband…" she whispered, as she kissed her name from his lips. "I have missed you so."

"Sha'uri…"

"Ssshh, my Danyel," she purred, running her fingers through his long hair. She just wanted to touch him. Relish in the fact that her body was _hers _again. Not possessed by the demon that had tainted her thoughts, her touch with hate. She could again look at her husband and know love without vengeance. She could once more touch her husband and feel warmth without the demon's evil freezing her veins.

It was almost a comfort that he had long hair again. It would make it easier to think of a time when they were happy. It would make it easier to forget the pain in his eyes every time he looked at her. Maybe it would even help her to forget the desire his eyes_ still_ held for her… even as her hand had slowly sentenced him to death.

She had often dreamed of what it would be like after the demon was gone. The life they would reclaim. How they would move on and watch their family grow. She never imagined getting the chance to start back at the beginning where their dreams were first born.

She never imagined seeing such innocence in her husband's eyes again.

~*~SGI~*~

"Sha'uri…" he tried again. He didn't know why he felt it was so urgent to ask her now. He didn't know why he felt fear in the safety of her embrace, or why, all of the sudden, he felt like he was frantically racing time so he wouldn't be left in the dust of his dreams. All he knew was that he was ready; it was time…to become a family.

And as if she read his mind, Sha'uri whispered her answer into his chest as they lay for the first time since their souls were torn. Their only witness was the moonlight peeking through. Their only care was for each other, and their only truth was whispered through the night to the rhythm of their love.

~*~SGI~*~

"_A loving heart is the truest wisdom."_

_-Charles Dickens_

Cornelius looked like a man about to cry. He had already made up his mind. He would not be the man his wife married… fell in love with, if he denied the code he lived by his entire military life. _"Never leave a man behind."_

Pointing north and quickly swatting a stray tear away, Cornelius' voice was confident, but weighed down deeply with sorrow. "Come. We are nearly there," he stated, before hastily heading off in that direction.

Back on course, Jack felt for the man. He knew what it was like to have to walk away from someone you never imagined needing in your life one day, only to realize the next that you couldn't imagine living without. The first time—a Daniel in love asked him to leave him behind on Abydos. The second time—a would be dead Daniel asked him on Klorel's ship. The third time—a dying Daniel…his _best_ friend, asked Jack to let him go so he could go play tinker bell with Oma Desala.

He had been asked way too many times to let Daniel go. And he did, believing in the man who asked him. But not this time. Not ever again. Nope. The only way he was _ever _going to let Daniel go again was if someone pried him out of Jack's cold dead hands. And even then he'd put up a fight.

Speaking of putting up a fight…

On his way to the locker room before he left—one super-sized bag in tow, he ran into her. Carter. Literally. She was standing _right_ around the corner in front of the locker room, twisting her fingers in her hands…

_/ "Oh! Sorry, sir!"_

"_S'kay…" _

_When she didn't say anything else, just stood there looking uncomfortable in her own skin, he pressed on. "Carter? Is there something I can do for you?"_

"_Sir…" was all she managed before her gaze lowered to her wrenching fingers._

_He knew where this was going. He'd seen it all morning and had been fighting it himself. _

_She was worried._

"_I'll get him back, Carter."_

"_I know you will, sir," she whispered confidently, looking immediately up at her CO._

_Jack was taken aback by the trust she held in her eyes. He knew his 2IC trusted him—they all trusted each other, but still, to see it so exposed as she looked up at him…it left his soul gasping._

_Watching her stand there, Jack noticed that her scientific mask was in place. Holding back the emotions she wanted to scream. Holding back the tears she would never allow to fall because if they ever did, it would make it even harder to convince herself that Daniel would be okay. That Daniel was coming home to them…alive. Every tear would be a dagger through the heart of faith. Every tear that slipped would take hope along with it and they had none to spare. So she would fight tirelessly to keep them in place…tucked away, deep down in her soul._

_Certain that she would soon dislocate her fingers, Jack intervened. "You know Carter…I've been passing out hugs aalll day long if you're interes..."_

_She was in his arms in an instant—holding onto him as if he was the last lifeline to Daniel. Maybe he was. He tried to whisper the best comfort he knew of in her ear. Humor. "Come on now, Sam. He'll be okay, I promise," he eased, stroking her hair. "Daniel can't get enough of us. Not even in death could he stay away." Okay, so he admitted he was a little rusty, but it still had the desired effect. She giggled…and then tightened her grip as if it would allow her a whisper of Daniel./_

Not a single tear fell, not a single sob racked her body, and still, in the brief moments he held her, he felt her soul cry. He still got chills when he thought about it, but they quickly subsided when Cornelius signaled him to get down.

They were there.

~*~SGI~*~

"_But I need to know- Will you stay for all _

_time…Forever and a Day._

_Then I'll give my heart 'til the end of all _

_time…Forever and a Day…"_

_-Fisher_

_/ "Oh, come on, Teal'c! No Goa'uld allowed on the scrabble board!" Jack exclaimed with exasperation._

"_It is not Goa'uld, O'Neill. It is in fact a common Tau'ri term."_

_Daniel and Carter chuckled. The four of them had been playing Scrabble for hours as the weather outside had prevented them from doing much of anything else. Jack had said that they all needed some time away from the SGC and the General agreed. They were all about to make their own plans, when Jack practically kidnapped them and carted them off to the great spam state of Minnesota. _

_Freezing his ass off was not what Daniel had in mind for a vacation. But it hadn't turned out as badly as he had feared. The snow storm outside kept them huddled together inside, laughing the night away…mostly at Jack._

_Jack had been arguing from the beginning that the words his teammates used were not of the English language. Even Carter had been accused of cheating, just because Jack didn't recognize **her** language. Getting down to the last few pieces **and **losing miserably, Jack was getting desperate. Putting extra consonants and vowels in words and saying they were silent. Of course they let him get away with it…eventually. Humoring Jack was just about as much fun as annoying him, Daniel thought. Although, it was really out of pity. Even with Jack's extra, albeit unethical points, he lost miserably…for the third time in a row, and swore he'd never play Scrabble again with a bunch of "freakishly educated" people while he set up for another game._

_What Daniel thought would be a dreadful, cold and boring weekend, turned into being just what he needed. What they **all** needed; time together without death or destruction knocking on their door. /_

Daniel opened his eyes to a new day, but found he couldn't shake the dream tugging at the edges of his memory. The last time he saw Jack was over a year ago, and the Jack he knew then didn't have an inch of grey hair. Nor, did he know enough about him to suggest he would cheat at Scrabble so childishly.

It also didn't explain why Daniel almost admired the behavior...and let him.

And who were the other two? In the dream he felt like he had known them his entire life. But he couldn't recall ever meeting them. The four of them made a family; he sensed a very unique family—each complementing the other with their inimitable abilities. Trust did not need to be asked of, because it was unquestionably there. He felt secure in their presence…safe, though plagued with constant worry for his team.

_Team. _

What made him think of that?

Sha'uri whispering in his ear brought him out of his reverie. "My husband…are you not well?" she asked, puzzled by the look on his face.

"No, I feel great. The best in what seems like ages, actually," he admitted, turning towards her. "I was just lost in a dream."

"Was I in it?" she asked teasingly.

"Uh, no. Um…actually, I didn't recognize half the people in it," he said, sitting up and hoping she would drop it. He had a bizarre feeling of loss when looking back at that dream, like he was missing something. But what? He had everything he had ever wanted and needed right here.

He could feel her as she sat up and started rubbing his back—in an attempt, he bet, to soothe him from what she could only imagine being a nightmare. However, when he looked back at her, it was not compassion he saw in her eyes, but fear.

He was about to ask her what was wrong when he heard Skaara yell for him to come outside.

~*~SGI~*~

She watched her husband as he dressed, admiring the flex of his muscles and the glint of his tan. She knew reality still lingered in his mind, cloaked as a dream to protect him. She was afraid this would happen, in her heart's heart maybe she even knew it would. Her husband's mind was stronger and wiser than a thousand men. She just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

The first time forever had been threatened and ultimately taken away was when their reality was crushed, by what the Tau'ri thought, were merely fairytales. The second time, she feared, it would be _reality_ delivering the final blow to their fairytale.

Now her heart, once overjoyed, was filled with fear. Which would her husband choose? The truth he knew in his mind? Or the dream he had never been able to let go of in his heart?

~*~SGI~*~

"_Greater love hath no man this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."_

_- 1Jn 15:13_

Jack knew what Cornelius was thinking. They were going to die. They were out in the middle of the jungle about to take on an undetermined amount of seriously crazed heavily armed men_…_without so much as an illusion of back-up.

_He obviously has never been stranded on a Goa'uld inhabited planet with an army of Jaffa hot on his tail._

Okay, Cornelius might be kissing his ass good-bye, but Jack distinctly remembered that nowhere on his agenda did it say anything about dying. Jack did a mental recheck. "_Spread cheer, save Daniel and escape in a hail of bullets."_ Nope! Nothing about dying and his day was booked so nowhere to squeeze it in. Darn.

Cornelius finished his survey of the camp and was now looking at Jack. "What do you think?"

"I think to get anywhere close to a head start from these goons we're gonna need to take out as many as we can quickly and quietly. If they should happen to notice us before we've made our escape, then hopefully, I'll already have enough C-4 planted to give us a big boom…where as we will then run like hell."

"What if the kid can't run?"

"I'll carry him," Jack said matter-of-factly.

"Okay…sounds like a plan to me," Cornelius replied, deciding that _that_ was not an issue he wanted to dispute and started to unfold the bow he just took from his pack, followed by numerous arrows.

Jack just eyed the odd choice of weaponry. "Wha…? What…? Okay, so more importantly," Jack asked, raising a finger. "**Who** takes a bow and arrows with them on a rescue mission?" _On earth, anyway? _Jack thought to himself. "Who do you think you are? Legolas Greenleaf?"

Cornelius didn't even bother to look up from his task of putting his bow together—although he did smile at the thought of Jack being a "Lord of the Rings" fan. "Correct me if I'm mistaken, Colonel, but silence is our only advantage here." Finishing, he threw a quiver of arrows across his shoulder. "Besides, _these_…" he said, rubbing his finger gently along an arrow's edge, "…are quicker and much more effective than a knife."

"Sweet. So do I get one?"

"Sorry, Colonel, but you'll have to use your knife."

Jack just stared at his guide. "You mean my very _ineffective_ knife?" he finally asked incredulously, raising his eyebrows.

Cornelius' only defense was to pick off the guerrillas one-by-one who were furthest from the site and closest to them. Each arrow made its target with marksmen precision, as one by one they fell with barely a noticeable thump.

"Hey, you're pretty good at this."

Jack's surprise, however, was cut short when Cornelius took out a tree instead of the wanna be Jaffa standing beside it. "I take that back," Jack grunted, as he threw his knife and hit the would be tattle-tale square in the heart, preventing the alarm from ever reaching his lips.

Satisfied, Jack slipped his automatic weapon off his shoulders. "Here, take this," he said, handing Cornelius his P-90. "Just incase I need more cover than your elbow can handle."

Cornelius stared blankly at him.

"Hey," standing hunched over, Jack checked the ammo in his hand gun, "three out of four ain't bad. Don't beat yourself up about it. Now if you would excuse me, I'm gonna circle around, plant some C-4 and see if I can find Daniel. After, of course, I retrieve my "ineffective knife," he quipped, using his fingers to quote the air.

Jack started weaving through the trees, but Cornelius stopped him before he got too far. "Colonel, I _do_ have a gun."

"Yeah, but mine's bigger." Jack smiled and then turned back to leave.

Cornelius, however, stopped him again, whispering as loud as he dared. "Colonel, remember. Just get the kid. We'll never make it out of here alive carrying the other guy."

"His name was Bill, Wallas. Bill. And…I know," Jack conceded, putting his head down. He hated leaving a man behind, dead _or _alive. But he also knew that in this particular situation, he had no other choice. He could only hope that one day it would be safe enough to come back for their fallen comrade.

~*~SGI~*~

"_And I need to know- Will you say for all_

_time…Forever and a Day_

_Then I'll give my heart 'till the end of all_

_Time…Forever and a Day"_

_-Fisher_

Counting the seconds between each rise and fall of his chest, memorizing the way his eyes danced under his lids to the rhythm of his dreams, Sha'uri watched her husband sleep, captivated by his magnificence.

He looked so innocent, so peaceful—as if he didn't carry the weight of the universe on his shoulders on a daily basis. As if right at this very moment, a battle wasn't raging inside of him. A battle of the heart and mind. A battle of truth and wishes. She wanted to wake him and choose for him, but she knew the choice was only his to make.

After eating the feast the village had in his honor, Daniel's strength quickly depleted. He had focused on and talked with every one of the villagers as if he never expected to again. Sha'uri wondered for a second if his mind remembered more than his heart would say. Had he remembered them ascending? Had he remembered her dying? _No, _she quickly decided. If that were the case he'd no longer be there. If that were the case, she wouldn't still be standing there, weighing her existence with each breath he took.

~*~SGI~*~

/Memories fluttered through his mind like a butterfly; beautiful, mesmerizing, but always just out of his grasp. Scattering frantically at the sight of the approaching storm, they granted Daniel no peace.

Suddenly the storm clouds opened up and unleashed a river, flooding all he could see, until he was left treading water in a vast ocean. The sky was dark brown and threatening to collapse on him. The water was cold and carried the stench of blood.

His entire body screamed in his attempts to stay above water. His spirit and strength weakened every time a white glove reached up and grabbed his foot, pulling him briefly into the black abyss beneath him. He was so tired…so tired. He felt like he'd been treading water for an eternity and there was no land in sight.

He screamed hours on end for help, but didn't know of anybody that could reach him…

It was at that thought…that something nudged in the corner of his mind.

_Or do I?_

Safety was on the tip of his tongue. All he had to do was say it and he'd be safe. If he could just remember what he had to say. The images in his mind were just as disoriented and dependable as the waves he latched onto to keep upright.

But slowly a name started to seep into his memory, as if it were carefully being sieved through his illusions. J…J'k…

"**Jack.**"

That's it!

"JACK HELP ME!" he cried as he hung onto the name like a life preserve and listened as his pleas were swallowed by the unyielding waves.

"Jack!"/

~*~SGI~*~

_"The cannon thunders... limbs fly in all directions... one can hear the groans of victims and the howling of those performing the sacrifice... it's Humanity in search of happiness."_

_- Charles Baudelaire_

The cocky goons made Jack's job a lot easier.

The Telchak Device had given them feelings of grandeur ultimately making them slack in their jobs. He had already planted C-4 on over half the base and was currently making his way over to a little shed he hoped held Daniel. After taking out the two men that had been guarding the hut, Jack traded his knife in for his 9 millimeter.

He had been preparing himself for this moment since he left the SGC, running horrid scenarios through his mind in an attempt to lighten the blow with actual reality when he found him.

What one never prepares for however, what one never allows themselves to imagine… are your horrid scenarios becoming reality.

Before he even kicked the door in, he could smell the blood. It lingered in the air and threatened to seize his heart.

The door swung open with his gun at the ready and for an instant his heart did stop. Daniel lay in a heap on the blood-soaked ground. Face slack, eyes half open but unseeing. His friend was barely recognizable with the crimson that had become his second skin. The only sign that life still graced him was the hitched rise and fall of his chest.

And standing over him was the bastard who was responsible…the bastard who was sacrificing his best friend for short-lived and empty pleasure.

"Jack, I presume," he drawled casually, tightening the grip on the artifact he held over Daniel.

"Handez Fernandez?" Jack asked through clenched teeth, as he leveled his gun between the bastard's bloodshot and power drunk eyes.

A simple nod was his answer.

"Well," Jack quipped as his grip unconsciously tightened on the gun after sneaking another peek at Daniel, "now that we've been properly acquainted, you'll understand why I'm going to kill you."

"Uh-uh-uh," Handez teased, raising the already humming artifact in his hands, "aren't you the least bit curious as to how I know your name?"

"Not particularly." Jack sounded irritated, but in truth he was terrified. He didn't know what to do. Unsure of the power he was up against, one wrong move and nobody would be walking out of there.

"He calls for you…this one," he said, gesturing to Daniel with the artifact. "In his nightmares he calls for you to save him. Is that why you have come, Jack? To _save_ him?" he laughed arrogantly.

Jack flinched inwardly.

"Then you have failed him. You are too late. His soul is already lost to him!" he yelled over the now roaring artifact and raging winds that were confined to the shelter. "And now, so will his body be to you!" he screamed, thrusting the artifact into the air as a brilliant white light encompassed them all.

_"As it is not proper to cure the eyes without the head, nor the head without the body, so neither is it proper to cure the body without the soul."_

_-_ _Loomis_

**Part III- The Race**

The wind had died down as quickly as it had raged, swallowing the light in its retreat. And the silence in the hut was just as deafening as the single shot that rang out from Jack's 9millimeter.

Handez lay slumped against the wall, the now silent artifact still loosely grasped within his hand. The only mourners of his death were the crimson tears that slid down his face.

Jack wasted no time reaching Daniel, his mask thrown to the merciless floor on the way. "Daniel?" He wanted to cradle him, lift him up in his arms and carry him out of this hell, but he was afraid to touch him. Not an inch of him looked spared and the last thing he wanted was to cause his friend more pain. "I'm here, Daniel. I'm here," he whispered, lightly cupping his feverish cheek.

But Daniel just stared on.

Jack's heart plummeted when he saw the absence of Daniel in his best friend's eyes. "It's okay. It's safe to come out now. Come on, Danny… please. Look at me," he begged. It was what he had feared. Daniel's mind had resorted to seeking comfort within itself…and Jack was left holding its broken armor.

Of all the things Janet thought to pack, there was nothing in her care package that could fix this.

"Damnit, Daniel," Jack whispered dejectedly, gently pulling his friend up and cradling him to his cheek. The same thing he'd done with Charlie after…

Daniel lay limp against him. His only reaction was the slight rise and fall of his chest—oblivious to the fact that tears soaked his face, tears that were not his own.

Handez's words echoed in Jack's mind. _You are too late. His soul is already lost to him. _"No," he cried as he began to rock him. No. He couldn't be too late. He couldn't.

No longer concerned about his broken body, Jack held the limp form in his arms tighter—as if sheer will could bring the gentle soul back to him. He had pretended for too long, had sought comfort behind the mask for far too long. And Daniel would never know. His body would absorb the words, but they would never reach his heart.

When the radiation had poisoned Daniel's body, Jack had told him that he"admired" him. Though it was the truth, it was only a fraction of it. He had closed up as quickly and as pathetically as he had opened up. And when Daniel had died…ascended…whatever, he _left_…Jack had held onto his belief that a man could survive anything in this world, as long as there was a world in which to survive on.

It was _this_ belief that had pushed him through the abrupt mission that followed Daniel's death. It was _this_ belief that had refused to let him mourn. It was _this _belief…that left him cradling the husk of a man he regarded as a friend, a brother…maybe even a son—who would never know. Because ultimately, it was _this_ belief that had prevented him from admitting the truth to himself, _and_ to Daniel.

The truth… that the _world_ he fought for, sought comfort on, and even hid behind in the shadows of his beliefs, was not nearly as precious as the one he held in his arms. _Let the universe claim the world,_ he thought. He didn't care. Just as long as they left him his.

It's hard to say when Daniel had wiggled his way into Jack's heart. It's hard to say why it frightened Jack so much. All he knew was that, when Daniel descended, _Daniel_ wasn't the only one given yet another chance, and damnit Jack wasn't going to let either of them give up on it just yet.

He could here Cornelius yelling for him, but he ignored it as he held Daniel against his chest. Tucking his head in the crook of his neck, Jack took his battered hand in his. He'd gotten Daniel's soul back after his addiction to the sarcophagus…and he was going to get it back again. He was going to get it back now.

~*~SGI~*~

'_Til the storms fill my eyes_

_and we touch the last time_

_I will love you, love you…"_

_-Fisher_

He awoke in the dream, screaming Jack's name and clutching reality to his heart. Looking up at Sha'uri, he noticed tears, silent in their descent to the desert floor. He barely got out her name before she turned away from him and covered her face.

"Please stay," she cried.

Getting up, he wanted to run to her, pull her into his embrace and tell her everything would be okay. Instead, he just stood there, a breath behind her. "Sha'uri, I don't understand this. I don't know what this is…but I_ know_ it's not real." _It couldn't be_. He thought, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. _I watched you die. I held your broken body. I…I buried you. _Tears filled his eyes now and threatened release. _They all died because of me._

"Yes, it is my husband," she sobbed, turning around to face him and raising her voice to be heard over the approaching sand storm. "It is in here." Gently she pressed her hand over the side of his head. "You brought us here, my Danyel."

He didn't know _what_ had brought him here. Didn't know what had happened to Jack, Sam or Teal'c either but he had to find out. Something was terribly wrong. Nothing good could have brought him here. But he couldn't remember what had happened. Did they get captured by a Goa'uld? Was he given the Blood of Sokar? Did they stumble upon another Game Keeper?

Was he in a coma? Was he dead? _Oh God…not again. Jack was gonna be pissed, _he thought. But no, that couldn't be it. He's been dead and dead has never felt so… good...free. Pushing aside the disgust that he would, yet again, need to unpack all his stuff and, yet again, need to find a new place to live after, yet again, coming back from the dead, Daniel took in a shaky breath and tried to clear his mind.

Suddenly, he could hear Jack calling for him, but as he look down at Sha'uri to see if she heard it too, he realized that he didn't so much _hear _it, as he did _feel _it. He could sense the desperation in his voice as he begged him to come back…to remember, and it gave him the strength he needed.

Cupping her face, his mind knew what he had to do. The hard part was convincing his heart to say it. When he had first woke up and saw her standing over him crying, he had toyed with the idea of staying. This was after all, all he ever wanted. But watching her now as he gently wiped away her tears, a painful realization hit him. It _was_ all he ever wanted…but he _needed _more. He _needed _it to be real.

And as much as he wanted to give up and live out the rest of his life in this dream…this beautiful dream, he couldn't. He couldn't leave his friends _again,_ and he couldn't stand by and let the world pass again without being able to touch it_. _After all these years, he finally knew where he belonged—with his friend…with his family, fighting the good fight.

_Even if it meant trading a lifetime of happiness in for a universe of pain, _Daniel solemnly thought, as he prepared to say goodbye to forever…again.

Stroking the cheek Daniel would never again feel the warmth of, he sobbed, "I'm sorry, Sha'uri…but I have to go."

"No, my Danyel, please," she pleaded, grabbing his robe.

The words caught in his throat, but he choked them out. "…and I'm sorry, Sha'uri. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm sorry I was never able to give you the life we dreamed.

"But Danyel, you can," she cried. "Just stay with me, please, my husband…stay with me," she begged, burying her head in his chest.

He cursed the truth that now plagued his heart and cursed it again for making her cry.

"I can't," he whispered, pulling her away from his body and cupping her face again in his hands. "It wouldn't be real. _This _**isn't **real…" He could barely see her through his own, now flowing tears, so he just pulled her back into his arms and held on tight. "It's just a memory, Sha'uri. A memory dancing with hope." Even as he said it, he clutched the memory tighter. Breathing in her scent, he tried to memorize the feeling of her pressed against him. "I love you, Sha'uri….I love you," he cried, as he desperately tasted her lips for what he knew would be the last time.

Salty tears soaked through the passion of their final kiss…already leaving them mourning in each other's embrace….

Suddenly, he was torn from her grip by the raging sand storm and tossed into the merciless winds. Below, he watched as she stood there; unmoving. No longer protected by the tent, yet untouched by the winds, whispering goodbye, as she faded from his sight.

_Goodbye…_

Memories were assaulting him now…and he remembered **everything**, including the pain. Pain…so much pain. "Jack…Jack! Help me!" he screamed into the raging winds, but was only rewarded with a mouthful of sand. Sand that hit him with such a force, he feared there would soon be nothing left of him—that he'd end up just another grain in the blinding storm.

There was nothing for him to grab onto, nothing to ground him. He was at the storm's mercy.

_Please Jack, help me… _

~*~SGI~*~

_"I dreamed a thousand new paths,_

_I woke and walked my old one."_

_- Chinese Proverb_

Jack didn't know how long he'd been holding onto Daniel, begging him to wake up, reminding him of the good times they had and how Carter would never forgive him if he didn't come back to them, but it seemed like an eternity.

If the world could see him now…hardass military colonel lying in a heap on the floor, cradling an archeologist with his gun forgotten by his side in a middle of a mission. Years ago he would have shrugged it off as a moment of weakness. Today, however, he would say that it was his strongest moment ever. He would tell whoever saw, that a certain archeologist taught him that compassion was a gift, and the most priceless and greatest strength any human begin could possess.

He was about to reach up and close Daniel's eyes—although he hadn't gotten his soul back _yet, _he could at least protect those beautiful windows to it, when Daniel squeezed them shut and started bucking wildly in his arms.

Surprised, Jack jerked his hand back.

"Jack!" he cried from a throat that was hoarse from dehydration and pain as he grabbed blindly with his hands.

Jack grabbed his flailing arms with one hand and pulled him closer with the other, grounding him. "Ssh. Its okay, I'm here, Daniel. I'm here," he soothed while rocking him.

Still, his friend struggled and gasped for air in the midst of desperate pleas for Jack to help him. His entire body vibrated in Jack's arms and the only thing Jack could do was hope his presence was enough to comfort him.

Finally, Daniel stopped screaming and slowly focused on him. His eyes were wide with terror, but gradually he began to relax into him, grabbing onto Jack's shirt like it was the only thing that kept him from slipping away again. His breath still came in quick short gasps, but at least he was calming down…at least he was back.

"Ssshh, Daniel. You're safe…you're safe. Just breathe. That-a-boy, easy breaths," Jack whispered, stroking his sweat and blood stained hair back. Daniel just stared at him, unable to look away and unwilling to let go, as he trembled in his arms.

"You c-caught me," he finally managed to croak out.

Jack didn't know what he meant, but his reply was instant. "I'll always catch you, Danny."

At that, Daniel closed his eyes and welcomed the peace of being safe in his arms—never letting go of the iron grip he had on him…and never noticing as Jack gently wiped away the single tear that had slipped from the, "windows to his soul," carrying the memory…of what might have been.

~*~SGI~*~

"_If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, _

_I hope I should have the guts to betray my country."_

_- E.M. Forster_

As the fallen star slipped from consciousness, Jack tried to ignore the little voice in his head that reminded him of how many times he _hadn't_ been there to "catch" him. How many times he wasn't there to prevent the younger man from getting hurt and how many times he _had_ been there, but could do nothing more than watch.

_Hell_, he hadn't even been there for the biggest one of all…his fall from grace. He _should_ have been there. He should have been the one to catch Daniel, not some strange village people. Okay, so yes, _everyone _was strange to Daniel because he couldn't remember anything. And, okay, so yes, how was Jack supposed to know that his friend was being tossed back into the corporeal plan like a slab of unwanted meat?

Still, he felt he was severely lacking in the, "Never Let Your Best Friend Down" category. _God, Daniel_, he thought, as he surveyed the damage done to his friend. Welts covered his body where gashes and bruises did not and all of him was coated in a thick layer of blood. Jack couldn't even imagine what the bastard used. A belt? A two-by-four? Both?

Easing his hand around Daniel's side, Jack cringed at the feel of ribs giving way, eliciting a heartbreaking moan from his friend. Thankfully though, he didn't wake up. Jack knew he'd be carrying him at least part of the way, and thought it would be best for the both of them if he remained unconscious. That way, neither one would have to feel the pain Jack would unintentionally be inflicting while marching them home.

"Colonel!"

Jack looked up and saw an out-of-breath guide leaning in the doorway.

"We must go, Colonel. No doubt the Beta Camp heard the shot you fired and are on their way now."

"Beta camp?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, a camp used as reinforce…"

"I know what the camp is used for!" Jack snapped. "What I _don't _know is why you never thought to mention it before?"

"I **thought,** Colonel, that we'd be out of here by now," he replied, gesturing to the figure still cradled to Jack.

Looking down at his arms, Jack swore to himself and to the man he held in them that never again would he be so far out of reach that he wouldn't be able to catch him again.

"There's a bag in my pack; get it out and put that _thing _in it," he commanded, tossing a glance towards the artifact. "Oh, and don't touch it! Or…touch it as little as possible… I guess," he finished at the horrified and confused look he got from Cornelius.

Now that the artifact was silent and secured in a thick sack around Cornelius' shoulder, Jack tried to pry Daniel's hand off of him. Not such an easy task, when said hand is slick with blood and you're trying to spare the man it belonged to from more pain. Jack wished he could bandage Daniel up in and secure him in bubble wrap here, but they just didn't have the luxury of time on their side.

Finally, Jack succeeded and received a tiny whimper for his achievement. Careful of his ribs, Jack placed Daniel in a fireman's carry. He wished he could just carry him in his arms with his head secure against his chest, but speed and agility would suffer severely for comfort.

Making their way back under the cover of the forest, Jack knew of _one_ person that would be able to cradle Daniel to his chest and run for dear life through a jungle. Teal'c.

/ _After prying himself away from Carter, he considered for a moment showing his sweet side more often. Then, maybe the ladies wouldn't be holding onto him like he was the last piece of chocolate in the galaxy…not that the __**male **__part of him minded. It was the __**colonel **__part that worried about his image being smudged by affection._

_Finally, stepping into the locker room, Jack wasn't surprised to see Teal'c turn to face him with his arms placed, ever so Teal'c-like, behind his back. _

"_It is my wish to accompany you, O'Neill," the ever stoic Jaffa stated without an ounce of uncertainty. He was the physically strongest man Jack had ever known and** very** protective of the young archeologist—which was why refusing his help, was going to be like trying to divert a shark that just got a scent of fresh blood. _

"_I know you do big guy, but Carter needs you."_

"_DanielJackson needs me," he replied unflinching._

_What else could he say? They both felt the pain of having to choose between friend and country, and neither would wish it upon the other. So, Jack did the only thing he **could** do…he chose for him._

_Grabbing his cap out of the locker, Jack stared down at it. "I know Teal'c…I know. But hey, when I bring him back, I swear he's all yours," he offered, looking up into the mask the Jaffa wore. "You can spoil him rotten and have your own personal leash that will match the harness the SGC is gonna spring to get him."_

_He expected to see an eyebrow rise at the mention of a harness, or pure Jaffa stubbornness in the eyes looking back at him. What he didn't expect to see, however, was a slow nod of acceptance and a single tear slipping out from underneath the mask of a warrior. _

"_Teal'c…" he didn't know what to say. What could you possibly say to a man…whom you just asked to abandon his friend to save a world of strangers?_

"_DanielJackson is a resilient man, O'Neill."_

"_Yes, he is, Teal'c."_

"_Then DanielJackson is all the help you shall require in rescuing him," Teal'c declared, as if convincing himself of this would lessen the pain of not being able to carry him all the way home himself._

_Suddenly unable to speak, Jack nodded his head in agreement. Keeping his head down, he slowly made his way to the door but stopped before reaching it. "T…um…you didn't want…um… a hug did you?" he asked, looking quite embarrassed as he glanced up at Teal'c out of the corner of his eyes. He had to be sure. He'd been passing them out like a "Blue Light Special" all day._

_Jack had **never**, in all his snake infested life seen Teal'c's eyebrow go up so high. Clearing his throat, he reached for the doorknob. "Just checking," he threw over his shoulder before running away with his tail between his legs. /_

Stumbling, but miraculously never losing the grip he had on his precious package, Jack wished he _had_ let the big guy come.

Behind him he could hear shouting and knew the second camp had found the remains of the first one. Luckily his little "Forget Me Nots" should be going off any second and _hopefully _they'll greatly reduce the number on their hides.

Hopefully, he could get Daniel home with the pieces that remained of him.

~*~SGI~*~

"_The road is long, with many a winding turn_

_that leads us to who knows where, who knows where._

_But I'm strong, strong enough to carry him_

_He ain't heavy- he's my brother."_

_- Glen Campbell_

The jungle was not built to accommodate a speedy escape, Jack decided. However, it _did_ offer great cover. In their retreat, they heard the echoes of explosions bounce through the jungle walls. Jack silently prayed that it helped even their odds, but he feared it only succeeded in pissing off a bunch of already really pissed off guerillas. They had been running and ducking detection by the hair of their chinney-chin-chins for nearly three hours now, coming so close that Jack swore he could smell their hunters' sweat on a number of occasions.

Daniel had woken a few times, but barely, and only long enough to latch onto Jack and realize he was finally safe. Only long enough for Jack to calm him, give him more medication, apply more bandages and throw him back over his shoulders mindful, of course, of the ever increasing number of wounds Jack had been noticing during their desperately needed breaks.

Cornelius wanted to help by taking turns carrying the battered archeologist, but Jack wouldn't hear of it. He kept shrugging off his assistance, saying he wasn't heavy. Besides, Daniel was _his _responsibility. Even though his knees ached to be released of the extra weight and his back threatened collapsing in on itself. It didn't matter. If he had to, he'd carry him all the way back into Frasier's open arms. It was what friends did for each other…it was what brothers did.

Resting again gave Jack another chance to check Daniel's vitals, (or suffer the wrath of the _Napoleonic power monger)_. It also gave Cornelius a chance to check the map. God only knew where they were.

"J'ck?" It was barely whispered, but the trust it voiced broke Jack's heart.

Smiling at the sight of seeing those big blues for the first time, really, since Daniel had come back to him, Jack gently placed his hand over a feverish cheek. "Hey, sleepy head."

"Where…?" he asked, seeking out Jack with his still trembling hands and grabbing a handful of material around Jack's waist.

The confusion on Daniel's face scared Jack. "Remember, Daniel, we're in Central America. You decided to play "Beat the Tourist" with the native rebels."

"Oh…yeah," Daniel croaked, bringing up his other hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Jack pulled away from his cheek and Daniel missed the security of it. So he held on tighter. Tightening the grip he had on Jack's shirt gave him comfort, despite the screaming protests of his fingers.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Jack asked, holding up two.

Daniel studied the object in question for what seemed like an eternity. "On which hand?" he finally responded, dropping the hand that had been resting on his nose.

Jack looked back at the only hand he held up. "Well, I guess that answers _that_ question."

After accepting the water, with forced slowness, but sweet blessed bliss, and the pills Jack handed him, Daniel cleared his throat and tried to ignore the childlike need to crawl into Jack's lap and cry. "How bad is it?"

Jack studied his friend. "How bad is what? The fact that we've been given the highly respectable, yet dangerously dramatic roles of "mouse" in a cat's playground? Or, the fact that, from what I can tell _so far_, for I am no doctor—you're suffering from one hell of a concussion, a few broken fingers …um?…oh, broken ribs, which by the way, mixed with this environment, makes for _excellent_ pneumonia conditions…infection from burns, cuts and gashes…and did I mention your left knee looks really, _really_ swelled and…well, gross? This assessment, of course, is solely based on what I can see. God only knows what that "tell-a-chick" thing did to ya." Pausing to take a breath and to see if Daniel would correct his mangled pronunciation of the device, Jack noticed Daniel's expression. The one he gave when he's just been given a shit load of information and is trying to find a way to catalogue it in that brain of his. He probably didn't even hear half of what he had said. "Does that answer your question, Danny?" His tone was not harsh, accusing or irritated for that matter, just… informative.

"Umm…yeah. That…that pretty much brings me up to speed. Thank you." Daniel blinked. "Um…except…um…where's the device?"

"It's off…from what we can tell and Wallas has it tucked safely away."

Raising his eyebrows in question of the name, Jack explained, "Wallas helped me find you. Cornelius Wallas," he clarified, gesturing to the man behind him, studying something in his hand. Cornelius half-waved, never taking his eyes off the map.

"Oh…good…thanks," Daniel mumbled, his eyes already starting to droop.

Jack watched as what he hoped was a peaceful slumber, called to his friend again. His hand lightly stroked his fevered cheek urging him to answer its call. "Rest, Daniel, we'll be home before you know it."

After removing the iron grip Daniel once again had on Jack, he gently placed the precious bundle back over his shoulder—only half-hearing Cornelius apprising him of their current location as he continued their escape with the comforting rhythm of his best friend's heart beating against his back.

~*~SG1~*~

_Safe. I'm safe._

He could hear Jack's breathing as he marched them to safety with Daniel as his burden. Slightly rocking back and forth on his shoulders, Jack's presence was as comforting as a strong but gentle sea. Daniel knew he would come, knew that his would be the hand that would reach out and take him home.

He didn't know what Jack had been giving him, but he felt a lot better…well, compared to what he'd been feeling like the past few days. The pain that had been circulating endlessly through his body from the artifact had died down to a bearable level and he found that he could also breathe more easily. _Woo-hoo_ he thought, in a pitiful attempt at enthusiasm.

His tremors had subsided for the most part, but every lingering stab of pain brought a rush of nightmares along with it, shaking Daniel to the core. At first, he'd grab onto the back of Jack's vest, but he felt silly… that simple material could make him feel safe, so he stopped and instead clenched his teeth until his jaw threatened to snap.

Somehow though, Jack still sensed…. Even while he raced for their lives, he was still so receptive to Daniel's needs. So every time a wave assaulted him, he could feel Jack's grip comfortably tighten. As if saying, "I'm here Daniel. Nobody's gonna hurt you anymore."

He didn't want to break Jack's stride, but he also didn't want to be a burden any longer. He didn't want to sleep anymore…didn't want to think about what he gave up…didn't want to think about Bill. He just wanted to concentrate on the moment. He could only imagine how much farther they had to go and he wanted to help. He was about to say something, when he felt Jack tighten his grip and bring him around to ease on the ground.

~*~SG1~*~

"_Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will _

_show themselves great."_

_-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

_Oh for cry'in out loud!_

Cornelius frantically searched his map. "I…I don't understand," he stammered.

Jack gently lowered Daniel to the ground and patted his cheek in reassurance. "We're just gonna take a little pit stop. You holding up okay?"

Daniel nodded, as he sought a more comfortable position and Jack turned around and put his hands on his hips.

"Colonel…I don't understand how this could have happened."

Frustrated, tired and sick with worry, this was the last straw for Jack. "Well," he snapped, whipping his hand out to encompass their newest problem, "isn't it obvious?"

Cornelius studied Jack, thinking the only thing that was _obvious, _was that they were in deep shit.

"Somebody has clearly seen, "Speed" and thought that it would be a laughing riot to put a honkin huge hole in our escape route!" Jack finished through clenched teeth. He knew it wouldn't do any good to scream and give their exact location away.

Blowing out a breath, Jack scratched his head as he took in the vast ravine. It was at least a half a mile wide and a hundred feet to the river that ran through it below. They stood on the edge near a waterfall. Its mist felt refreshing to Jack, but he knew it couldn't be good for Daniel with his broken ribs and weakened state.

"Think we can jump it?" he asked, trying to shake Cornelius out of his shock induced stare.

It worked.

"Colonel, even if we did have a bus, hydraulics, and movie magic on our side…no, I do not believe we would make it," he simply stated before desperately searching his map again.

"Pessimist."

Turning back around and crouching beside Daniel, he saw Cornelius put the artifact down and tell him he was going to scout for another way.

Daniel didn't miss the suspicion in Jack's eyes as he watched Cornelius leave.

"What's wrong?" he cursed the weakness that still claimed his voice.

"Let's just say he has more to lose by sticking it out with us, than he does if he skedaddles right now," Jack replied, never looking up from checking Daniel's bandages.

Jack tried not to think about the shit his best friend had been through the past few days, or the shit he has yet to go through, just to put former shit behind him. Nor did he want to let the pain in Daniel's eyes register in his heart, or he'd be forced to just hold the kid until either death or help found them.

He wanted to ignore the slight tremors that danced under his fingertips during his ministrations. He wanted to curse, scream, damn the universe and everyone in it, including himself, for letting more pain find probably the most important person in his life. But he couldn't. He knew that. Not here. Not now. Probably not ever. So he was thankful when Daniel's good old curiosity started to peak.

"Why are you always so paranoid, Jack?"

"Hey! I think I have the right to be! Shall I whip out the list of people who have totally screwed us, in one way or another…time and time… and time again in some cases?"

"Um…no, no that won't be necessary."

"Cause I can." Jack looked up at Daniel and continued as if he hadn't heard him. "Let's see, there's the Tok'ra…"

"Jack."

"The Tollans…"

"Jack."

"The Aschen…or they _would_ have …anyway…"

"Jack!"

"Did I mention the Tok'ra?"

"JACK!"

"And I have it on good authority that Humpty Dumpty was pushed."

"Ja…**What**?"

Whatever Jack's explanation would have been was cut off and replaced with "Oi!" when an automatic weapon was shoved in his face.

Looking up, Jack's saw the feral grin behind the gun at the same time he felt Daniel tug on his arm. Realizing that Daniel couldn't see the big nasty standing behind him, Jack filled him in. "Nothing to worry about, Daniel. Just looks like one of the cats have caught up with the mice."

Just then the irate guerrilla walked around and faced Daniel.

~*~SG1~*~

Daniel's breath caught in his throat. He tried to keep a straight face…tried not to show his fear—even as searing pain shot through his fingers and up his arm.

He recognized this man. He was one of Handez's happy little helpers and suddenly he was back in that hut, wondering which would be lost to him first…his life or his sanity. Finding it hard to breathe, Daniel's vision swam and he tightened the grip he had on Jack's sleeve. _Damnit! _he cursed himself. He had survived worst than this, suffered more severely from the hands of Goa'ulds…so why couldn't he swallow the fear that was trying to consume him?

Maybe he'd just blame it on side effects from the artifact.

~*~SG1~*~

"Mama said there'd be days like this" Jack muttered, his eyes never leaving the renegade's as he waited for the right second to make his move. Daniel's trembling had violently increased a few notches and Jack couldn't wait to take the bastard out. Unfortunately, said bastard was trying to take both of them out with his arrogant ramblings.

Jack was beginning to wonder if all bad guys took a course on how to act superior while simultaneously dishing out a crock of shit. He was also beginning to wonder what the hell had happened to Cornelius. He knew he shouldn't have trusted him. Now he was going to have to figure a way out of this, with a damaged archeologist, a babbling mad man, his bad knees and a gun he didn't think he could pull fast enough. Who'd they think he was? MacGyver?

A few agonizingly intense moments passed and Jack couldn't take it anymore. If he had to listen to another second of, "…my power, this…my power, that…your insolence, this…your insolence, that…" he was going too spontaneously combust and end up taking them all out. Which would be a shame, especially since a knife through the heart would just as easily work and spare both him and Daniel.

Luckily, that's exactly what happened when Cornelius decided to make a fashionably late appearance. Jack watched as their would-be captor slumped lifelessly to the ground.

"Well, there's another minute of my life I'll never get back," Jack complained, before asking Cornelius what the hell had taken him so long and checking on Daniel.

Daniel's eyes were wide with fear and disbelief—his breathing, quick and shallow as he tried to convince himself that they were safe again. "Hey," Jack whispered, tilting his chin so Daniel would look him in the eyes. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay now, you're safe," he soothed.

Daniel nodded and pulled on Jack's sleeve—a desperately needed reminder that he still wasn't in that God forsaken shack.

As Cornelius helped Jack move Daniel behind a fallen tree for more cover, Jack couldn't help but ask him what had happened to his precious bow. "I did not feel like digging it back out of my pack, okay?"

The smart ass remark on the tip of Jack's tongue was swallowed when he heard movement in the bushes.

"They have found us," Cornelius whispered.

"Ya think?" Was the remark he got in unison from both Jack and Daniel.

Suddenly a spray of bullets, _way_ to close for comfort dusted them with debris. Jack threw himself over Daniel—a desperate attempt to protect the younger man from more harm.

"What now?" he yelled to the man huddled beside him as he returned fire.

"We jump."

Jack stopped firing and stared incredulously at his guide. "Are you **cracked**? That's **at least** a hundred feet…**into** a raging river. If the fall doesn't kill us the river will!"

"Pessimist."

If looks could kill…

"Listen, Colonel, I figure we have two choices. (A) We jump and _maybe _survive. Or (B) We stay here and die."

"What about (C)?"

"There is no (C)."

"There's _always _a (C)!"

"Not this time, Colonel."

Jack looked back down at Daniel. He was still shaking wildly from their uninvited guest, but was desperately trying to rein in his emotions. Jack had seen many faces on Daniel. Happy, sad, scared, ecstatic, confused, hurt, even pissed; all of which he sought comfort in knowing he could identify each in a heartbeat, even predict them, regardless of how hard Daniel tried to hide his emotions. Jack could always see through the mask. The one face Jack had never gotten used to, however—never been able to understand, was the one that bore trust. Trust in _him_…even with all they've been through, even with all _he's _put Daniel through since they met.

He saw this face now. Pushing through the pain to let Jack know that whatever he chose to do, Daniel would accept it as the best choice…even if Jack wasn't so sure himself.

…even if the best choice would probably end up killing him.

Daniel could barely stand on his own, let alone swim a few laps in a rampant river. If the fall didn't kill Daniel and the river didn't kill Daniel…then the water would eventually. Jack could hear Janet now, yammering about begging for pneumonia.

_Man, is she gonna kick my ass._

"Daniel…"

"Jack…" Daniel cut him off. He knew what he was going to say and there was no point in saying it, especially since it wouldn't change anything. "I'll be fine. Just…just don't let go. And if you do…"

"I'll catch you," Jack finished, patting the younger man on his fevered cheek and letting his hand linger there when he noticed Daniel seeking the warmth.

~*~SG1~*~

It seemed like he'd been falling forever. He could feel Jack's grip tighten around his waist and his heart speed up at the thought of the inevitable. He could see a rainbow in every drop of mist they passed and hear them as they collided with their bodies; spreading their colorful delight all over them. He counted three birds that flew by, singing a tune that sounded suspiciously to Daniel like laughter and countless bullets whiz by, not even aware they missed their target.

People always talked about your life flashing before your eyes the moment before you die…or _think _you're going to die. But as many times as Daniel had experienced this… unpleasant re-occurrence, never could he remember his life flashing before his eyes. What he _did _remember was pain, agonizing and all encompassing pain. He remembered the world slowing down and nearly coming to a complete stop right in front of him; disturbingly clear, as if asking, "Are you sure you want to get off this ride? Look at what you'll miss."

And what was it with the, "flashing of the life" thing? Was it your soul's final and desperate attempt to catalogue all the monumental things in your life before it's forced to leave your body? Or was it only adrenaline pushing through your veins, eliciting memories that would keep you fighting until the last possible second?

Either way, Daniel figured it didn't really matter as the world suddenly rushed up to meet them.

Pain. Blinding, freezing pain enveloped his fevered body and stole the protective warmth of Jack's grip. He was tumbling…tumbling with no anchor. Grabbing frantically for something, anything that could give him a clue as to which way would offer him release for his burning lungs. He had to get out. He had to hold on. Jack trusted him to. All he had to do was hold on and Jack would pull him out.

Finally, breaking the surface, he could hear Jack calling his name, but the need for air and his waning strength prevented him from calling out.

"Daniel!" Was the last thing he heard before the fierce river swallowed him whole again.

He was falling again, churning madly down its esophagus to where it awaited eagerly to devour him. Closer and closer he got, until he could see the opening at the end of the tunnel where its acidic juices bubbled up in anticipation.

Suddenly, he wasn't falling anymore…but remained dangling above the pool like a fresh piece of meat over a lion's den. Someone or something had caught him, but it was too late, he thought, as he watched a hand come up from out of the river's stomach and cloak him in darkness.

~*~SG1~*~

"_How long after you are gone will the ripples_

_remain as evidence that you were cast into the pool of life?"_

_-Grant M. Bright_

"He's not breathing!"

_Shit!_

Several miles down stream, Cornelius helped Jack pull Daniel onto the bank.

"He's not breathing."

"I heard you the first time, Wallas!" Jack snapped, gently laying his lifeless friend on the ground. Steam eerily rolled off the archeologist's body—produced by the cool river water and Daniel's raging fever.

_This isn't happening. This isn't happening, _became Jack's mantra as he desperately tried to breathe life back into the younger man.

"No pulse!" Cornelius announced from Jack's side and began to do compressions.

"Damnit! Come on, Daniel! Breathe!" he begged.

Daniel's lips were cracked, and his cheeks were sunken in from nearly a week without food or water. Blood was caked through his fine hair despite its assault from the river, and cuts and bruises marred his entire face—clashing with those intense blue eyes Jack feared he'd never see again.

He seemed so small, so fragile on that bank, where life threatened to escape him. But there was also something else…something more, that Jack had rarely seen grace the archeologist's face…peace. Somehow the raging river had brought him what life had been so adamant about denying him his entire life.

"One and two and three…"

Listening to Cornelius count the number of times he forced blood through Daniel's heart, Jack wondered if they were being heroes saving his best friend's life, or just selfish. Would he be the one to deny Daniel peace, even if it meant losing him again…letting go?

_**Hell yes.**_

It was unquestionable. "Cold dead hands," remember?

Cornelius finished counting to five and it was Jack's turn to fight the reaper. "Come on Daniel, I just got you back."

~*~SG1~*~

"_The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep,_

_And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."_

_-Robert Frost_

_Cold. _

_Cold. _

_Cold. _

_Cold._

He was so cold, he burned, and his lungs refused to expand. The agonizing pressure on his chest didn't help any either. He just wanted to go home. Hell, even the infirmary was looking good to him now. Ahh the infirmary…where he'd be all nice and warm in his very own bed.

He couldn't think of a reason why he should be so cold, and then he remembered the river and Jack wrapping an arm around him, catching him…again. He couldn't feel Jack now though and it scared him. All he could feel was an intense pressure on his chest that threatened to snap his already battered body in half.

He was so tired. He just wanted to rest—to give into the need to sleep for a week and pray his dreams had mercy on him. But he knew he couldn't. Not so far from home. Not with this drumming on his chest.

Despite the fact that Daniel couldn't feel Jack right now, he knew what he had to do. All he had to do was reach out. Reach out and Jack would find him and take him the rest of the way home.

_Just reach out, Daniel. _ He told himself. _Just reach out…_

~*~SG1~*~

If fear could make a man piss his pants, then Jack guessed it was a good thing he was already soaked. Could this be it? Could this really be it? No Goa'uld, no higher beings, or big stinkin' overgrown sushi…just a river. A fuckin' river was gonna do what nobody in all the universes and all the worlds could do? Kill Daniel…and _keep_ him dead?

If Jack hadn't already pissed his pants, he probably did when Daniel suddenly reached out, grabbed his hand and sucked in the most painfully beautiful breath Jack had ever heard.

Jack's surprise, however, didn't stop him from tightening the grip instantly. "I got you. I've got you," he eased as Daniel coughed and sucked in greedy breaths. "I've got you."

Daniel opened his eyes and searched Jack's face. "C-c-c…cold," he stuttered hoarsely through teeth, Jack feared, would shatter from the force of his quaking body. Looking down at his shivering friend with mixed emotions, "Ssshh, I know," he comforted, stroking his brow, "I know."

_Daniel was breathing. Daniel was breathing. Daniel was breathing. _ Jack preferred this mantra to the latter. Once again, Daniel had beaten the odds, come back from the dead and scared him shitless.

Jack had tossed out his plans of gracefully growing old to the wind practically the second after he had met Daniel. And now, hunched over and holding his best friend after yet another heart stopping episode…for both, he was forced to accept the fact that since he already had a full head of gray hair—thanks to Daniel—it was now going to start falling out.

They had better find a way to get Daniel off of Murphy's Hit list, before Jack had to start shopping for a military standard toupee`.

"If I may say so myself, Colonel, that is one stubborn kid you got there," Cornelius laughed as he patted Daniel on the shoulder and went to retrieve the packs they had dropped on the shoreline.

"Tell me about it. One pain in the ass too," Jack teased as he eased Daniel into his lap. Never letting go of his hand, he winced at the heat radiating off of him.

Daniel's fever induced body didn't burn Jack nearly as badly though, as the pained expression on the younger man's face. He hated feeling helpless, but even worse was feeling helpless when it came to Daniel. "How 'bout I give you some more of Janet's magic juice? That should make you feel better…help bring your fever down even."

"It hurts, Jack," Daniel rasped brokenly.

"Where?" the older man urged. If Daniel was admitting to pain it was bad.

The only strength that remained in Daniel's body was in the hand that squeezed Jack's. The rest of him lay limp; moving only by the force of his tremors. "Everything," he said, then started to laugh and cry at the same time, wincing as the action pulled at his broken body. "God, Jack, I really am weak, aren't I?" he asked, trying desperately to reign in his emotions.

Jack had been torn between wanting to slap Daniel for scaring him so badly, or, well…slap him for scaring him so badly. But his face was serious as he gently placed two fingers below his friend's chin, demanding his complete attention. "Daniel…you…" Jack had to swallow the overwhelming pride he held for the younger man before continuing. "Daniel, you have strength in you that warriors seek, but would _never _be strong enough to carry. A truth that believers seek, but would_ never_ be able to comprehend. _You, _Daniel, have lived and even died with_ so_ much conviction, that it would bring the heroes the world actually knew about to their knees. Hell, Daniel I've seen you inspire greatness in the most desolate situations _and_ people, including myself, **by just being you**. So don't talk to _me_ about weakness, Daniel, because the person I'm looking at now is stronger than I, or any Jaffa will ever be." Jack suddenly felt awkward and looked around to see where Cornelius was. Did he just say that out loud?

"Jack?"

Looking back down at Daniel, he was relieved to see that he was breathing easier, but a little confused when he saw concern in the archeologist's eyes. "What is it, Daniel?"

"Jack..." Daniel's voice caught and Jack was gonna have a stroke.

"Daniel. What is it?" he urged more forcefully with fear.

"D…did you hit your head on the way down? Cause that…that was really…"

"**Daniel**! For cryin' out…!" Relief washed over him. "What are you trying to do to me?" he chastised, lightly cuffing him on the head. "I'd kill ya, if I weren't afraid you just used up your last, "Get out of Dead Free" card."

Daniel managed a smile. "Sorry, it's just…"

"Hey! I can be…nice, even profound…though it's usually when nobody's looking…or listening." Jack made a face that looked like he was pondering his own words.

"Anyway," he continued, snapping back to the moment. "I meant every word. Just…just promise you won't tell anyone I'm turning into a softy, or I'll be forced to leave you here."

This time it was one of those rare, full blown smiles. "Promise."

~*~SG1~*~

"_We are not now that strength which in old days _

_moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;_

_One equal temper of heroic hearts, _

_made weak by time and fate, but strong in will_

_to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."_

_- Alfred, Lord Tennyson_

"Good news," Cornelius reported, returning with the miraculously salvaged artifact and packs. "I figured out where we are. And we're on the correct side of the river."

Jack grabbed his pack and started digging through it with one hand. "Hear that, Danny? No more impromptu dips."

"Yippee," Daniel mumbled weakly. Seeking warmth, he tried to nonchalantly bury himself further into Jack's chest.

"Easy on the enthusiasm there, Daniel. I don't want you to hurt yourself," Jack admonished, as he finished laying out dry bandages and medication.

"Colonel, five more minutes and we should really head out. I'm estimating that we are just over an hour away from the rendezvous point."

"Okay, Wallas why don't you do a perimeter," Jack ordered, not even looking up from his ministrations.

Finally noticing all the pills and syringes, Daniel raised an eyebrow. "What _have _you been giving me?"

Jack studied the portable pharmacy. "Uuuhh..." Shrugging, he reached out to grab a syringe and inject Daniel with it.

"W-w-wait! You don't**know**?" The archaeologist held up a shaky hand in a feeble attempt to fend off the happy-go-lucky injector.

"Well, yes…and no," Jack defended. "Frasier just kind of started pointing to all this stuff saying, _'If Daniel has these symptoms, give him this. If Daniel suffers from this, give him this. If Daniel experiences this…'_ I mean, Daniel, she went on like that for _at least _five minutes and as far as I can tell, you're _experiencing_ just about everything she covered."

"So you've just been giving me…?"

"Well, everything pretty much. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. I like to call it, 'Daniel's Oil.'"

"Uh-huh…" Daniel studied his friend and decided that Jack wouldn't risk giving him something if he thought it would do him more harm than good. "I'm confident." Besides he _had_ been feeling better before the polar plunge.

"Good!" Jack smiled and continued in his task, barely receiving a wince when the needle bit into Daniel. "Besides, what's the worse that could happen? You overdose on antihistamines and Kleenex goes bankrupt?"

"Ha-ha."

Jack could tell he was fighting to stay awake, fighting to remain in control of, not only his body, but his emotions as well. He knew reality hadn't completely caught up with his archeologist yet—that parts of him were still huddled and terrified in that God forsaken shack. That no matter how hard he tried, he would never get that part of him back. And that one day, Jack was going to have to help him say goodbye to it and fill that part of his life up with something else. But he figured that at least for now, he could help him focus on something else. "You know, Daniel, you should have seen Frasier. Would you believe me if I told you, that she actually tried to fit a portable AED in my pack?"

He realized Daniel knew what he was trying to do, but luckily decided to play along. "Really?" he asked, trying to raise an interested eyebrow.

"Yup. And I have to admit that a few minutes ago I was cursing myself for not letting her strap it to my pack."

"She wanted to strap it to your pack?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"Oh yeah. Actually if I didn't know better, I'd swear she spent a good five minutes trying to figure out how to tie _herself_ to it."

Jack was rewarded with a full blown giggle, followed by a wince, a curse and a hand reaching up to grab his vest. Guilt racked Jack, as vessel popping coughs racked Daniel. "Sshh, sorry, buddy." Jack held the younger man tighter, who had somehow, not filled, but lessened the void his son's death had left behind.

After the debilitating coughs subsided, Daniel lay limp in Jack's arms. His tired and pain-filled eyes held Jack's concerned ones, but a smile touched his lips. "What…?" he croaked. "…worried you'd be charged with Involuntary Laugh-Slaughter, or something?"

Shaking his head seriously, Jack patted his linguist on the cheek. "Of course not, Daniel…the charges would be dropped before the first click of the cuffs. The President and I are like _this,_ remember?" Jack said, crossing his fingers and ducking a weak swat to his head.

Daniel grinned, but started coughing again. "Here, drink some of this. Easy, take it slow," Jack cajoled, putting his canteen to Daniel's mouth and steadying it in the archeologist's trembling hands.

Taking in Daniel's labored breaths and exhausted body, Jack could tell that pneumonia was trying to get a hold of the archeologist, but prayed the antibiotics would be able to hold it at bay—at least until he got him into Dr. Frasier's more capable hands. "You sure you're up for this?"

Daniel let the hand drop that had been weakly holding the canteen and Jack put it away. "Piece of cake, right?" he replied breathlessly.

"Yeahsureyoubetchya." Jack smiled, patting Daniel on the cheek. He wanted nothing more than to let his friend rest, but they just couldn't risk staying in one place any longer. They had no way of knowing the position of their hunters. They could be moving in on them right now, or the river could have given them a decent head start…either way, Jack wasn't about to wait around and see.

Helping Daniel stand, Jack bore most of the weight, steadying him when his legs refused to hold him at first. Then placing his arm around his shoulder and grabbing him around the waist, Jack waited a moment for him to get his balance.

Confidently, Daniel looked up at him, wincing a little as he attempted to straighten himself. "Let's hit the road…Jack."

"And don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more," Cornelius casually sang as he passed the two up and took the lead.

Jack and Daniel watched as Cornelius trekked ahead, then they look at each other, and then back at Cornelius. Finally, looking back at each other, raising their eyebrows they simultaneously shrugged and followed in his wake, Daniel still being supported by Jack.

Their voices could faintly be heard over the sounds of the jungle.

"Jack?"

"Yeah, Daniel?"

"You're a bad influence on him."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

~*~SG1~*~

His mind was swimming and demanding colossal amounts of energy—energy he didn't have, just to concentrate. His muscles ached and shook with fatigue and abuse, and sweat poured off of him despite the chills that racked his body. When they had first started out, Janet's drugs were already taking effect, making him confident that he would eventually be walking unassisted. However, now—not forty minutes into their hike, it took all he had just to put one foot in front of the other.

Jack's grip had already tightened to keep him standing and so had his. And somewhere along the line, his head had ended up on Jack's shoulder—not that he knew how he could still walk that way—body vertical, head horizontal.

He _was_ still walking, wasn't he? _Yep! _Because he just stumbled and would have taken them both down, if not for Jack's killer reflexes.

He knew Jack wanted to carry him. And if he thought that it would get them out of there any quicker, he _might_ even consider it. But Jack was just as exhausted as he was. Daniel could see it in his eyes, though his friend would never admit it.

He just had to keep concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, reminding himself that each step brought him closer to stiff white sheets, prying nurses, bright lights, needles and an overwhelming odor of antiseptics. _Aaahh,_ Daniel sighed as he stumbled again. _I can't wait. _

~*~SG1~*~

After pulling Daniel upright again, Jack decided it was time to take a break. Daniel's head was already lying limp against his shoulder and he doubted the scientist even had his eyes open. Of course that didn't stop his feet from moving. Jack had seen Daniel on auto pilot before, where all of his energy and concentration was diverted to only the most essential areas. His mind and tongue, while translating for their lives, his heart and soul, while trying to save a civilization…and now, his two feet, to walk him home.

Stopping and pulling Daniel back when his feet were about to walk out from underneath him, Jack signaled for Cornelius to scout ahead. "Dannyboy and I are gonna take a little breather."

Jack eased himself onto the ground, taking Daniel with him. He became concerned when it looked like Daniel didn't even notice. Tilting the younger man's chin up so he could get a better look at him, he cursed at the sight of the flushed face. "Aww shit, Danny, look at you. Your fever's up again."

Daniel looked up at him with confused and fever-glazed eyes, finally becoming aware that he wasn't moving anymore.

"Why didn't you tell me you were feeling worse?" Jack asked gently, smoothing aside his sweaty bangs.

"It's okay. I'm fine," Daniel said weakly, lying listlessly against him.

"The hell you are," Jack snapped, damning such helpless moments. He had already given Daniel more than the prescribed amount of medication just to keep him on his feet…hell, just to keep him breathing. He knew how important it was for Daniel to be able to walk out of there…to be given some kind of control after having every ounce stripped away while laying in that hut. But looking at him now, racked with fever and labored breaths, barely able to keep his head up, let alone his eyes open…he just didn't think it was going to be possible.

"Really, Jack…" Daniel still didn't sound convincing, "…just hit me with 10ccs of coffee and I'll be good to go."

"Now, I know it's bad," Jack replied grimly. "You're attempting humor."

"**Hey**," Daniel feigned hurt, closing his eyes. "Actually, double, "**hey**!" because I was serious. Where's the coffee?"

"See, now Daniel you _must_ be delusional if you think Janet would actually prescribe, let alone _allow _you within a hundred feet of caffeine in your condition." He hoped that Daniel didn't argue that out of all the drugs Jack had been giving him, there was bound to be at least one with some sort of stimuli in it…so he quickly changed the subject.

Digging out his canteen, he placed it against his friend's mouth, causing him to jump and lazily open his eyes. "Here, I need you to sip on this until the mummy gets back. _Slowly," _he added when Daniel started to suck it down. "Janet will kick my ass if I show up in her infirmary with a dehydrated archeologist."

"Jack, I think that's the least she'll be concerned about. Besides, I'm already dehydrated."

_Man, is she gonna kick my ass._

"Yeah, but I promised I'd return the archeologist with at least a 1/3 of a tank, and thanks to your fever, I doubt I'll be allowed to take you out of the mountain for at least a week."

"I'm touched," Daniel rasped.

"As you should be," Jack replied, gesturing that he take another sip.

They sat there in silence for a few moments, Jack cringing every time Daniel's breath would hitch and Daniel slowly losing the battle to stay conscious. Jack had thought that the younger man had finally fallen asleep…until he heard the faintest of words spoken into his chest. "The mummy?"

"What?"

"Until the mummy gets back?"

It took Jack a second. "Oh. Wallas…Cornelius…whatever—doesn't he remind you of that mummy guy from…well, "The Mummy"?"

"Imhotep?" Daniel asked, trying to remember what Cornelius looked like. He really hadn't been paying much attention.

"Imo…um, sure, yeah, that sounds about right." Jack marveled at Daniel's ability to _still_ think circles around him while half unconscious.

"Yeah…I guess you're right. He does. Hmm."

"Hmmm…?"

"Hmmm…"

The resounding sound of crickets was finally silenced when Cornelius returned. "It's all clear, Colonel, at least for about another mile."

"Good to hear."

"How's the kid?"

Looking down, Jack took in said kid's sleeping features and they cried pain. They screamed of nightmares to come and endless bouts of uncertainty. They begged for reassurance and safety in a friend's embrace. And prayed for mercy from the merciless life he lived.

Hugging Daniel against him, Jack absorbed the tremors that ran throughout the younger man's body and they reverberated through his soul, leaving it aching for a way to ease them.

He cursed the answers he wouldn't have, and the chance that would never come so he could trade places with him. He damned the bastards that did this and the pain he wouldn't be allowed to bear for him…

"Colonel?"

"He'll be fine, Wallas." There wasn't any other option. Daniel's stubbornness just wouldn't allow it…and neither would Jack's.

"Dannyboy will be just fine."

~*~SG1~*~

"_The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within_

_what you are trying to defend from without."_

_- Dwight D. Eisenhower_

Jack decided he wasn't going to wake Daniel. He'd just place him over his shoulder and let him sleep the rest of the way if it came to it. Reaching over to take his pulse, Jack was startled when he suddenly started screaming and whipping his head back and forth as if trying to escape a memory.

"No! You **bastards**! Bill? **Bill**!" Daniel was struggling now in Jack's arms, oblivious of his attempts to soothe.

Worried that Daniel would cause himself more harm, Jack was about to order Cornelius to get a sedative out of his pack, when Daniel suddenly snapped out of it with such a force…that **Jack** could hear the gunfire echoing from his nightmare.

"Jack?" He sounded so small, so lost.

"I'm here."

"Jack?"

The nightmare had left him more exhausted and breathless than ever, but his hand still managed to reach out to find Jack.

"Sshh, it's okay, buddy."

"Jack…" he cried brokenly, as salty tears slipped to the ground in the wake of his mask.

"I know, Daniel." He lightly stroked his cheek with his thumb in what he hoped was a consoling way. "I know." In one word, he knew what Daniel was telling him—that he was tired. And not just _body _tired…but _soul _tired. Because…at times, Jack felt the same way.

Because, as much as they believed in what they were doing; defending the world. Sometimes…sometimes one couldn't help but wonder when it would end. When the macabre dance between battles and wars would finally cease. When pain would have time to heal and hearts have time to mourn before the next call.

Sure, they've won their share of battles. They've been to the other side and found, that yes, the grass is greener. But never have they gotten the chance to smell it, to take their shoes off and smoosh it between their toes before the other side's demands forced them to return.

It was demands like these that left you waking up in the morning, wondering if you had the strength to make it another day. It was the constant pressure and worry that left you crying over a bottle of scotch when nobody was around… or, in Daniel's case, coffee.

And finally, when the ache of exhaustion weakened you to a point _beyond_ the pain…it left you lying in the jungle, hanging onto your best friend, while you wept everything you've been harboring away.

Reigning in his emotions, Daniel wiped at his face with a shaky hand. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Leave it to Daniel to apologize for the sky being blue.

"For being such a head case."

Jack's breath caught at the choice of his words. It wasn't a pleasant memory—for _either _of them, but, perhaps, in this case, he could use it to his advantage. "Anybody else here getting a sense of deja`vu`?"

Daniel furrowed his brow, and Jack watched as he sorted through that mind of his. He figured that he had probably stored that memory in one of his many, **"Do not, under any circumstances, open this!"** boxes. So he was a little surprised _and _relieve when Daniel smiled. "Yeah." Although, he doubted it was at the memory.

"Well, it wasn't your fault then, Daniel, and it sure as hell isn't your fault now."

"Jack…"

"Daniel."

"Ja'…"

"Daniel, I'm serious!" When his archeologist was forced to look away, or risk shedding more tears, Jack knew that he had won _that_ battle…at least for now.

"You think you can walk?"

He could visibly see Daniel shoving his latest nightmares into one of those boxes, readying himself and forcing himself into the moment.

"Um…no. But I'm going to anyway."

It was then that Cornelius decided to make his presence known. He had been standing on the sidelines the whole time, watching their backs. Perhaps Jack had underestimated him. He'd have to find a way to help him and his wife when they got back.

"It is not much farther, Colonel. Only a few more miles."

"Only a few more…you know, that…that just doesn't comfort me like it should," Daniel admitted as Jack handed him back the water.

"Don't worry about it, Daniel. If you get too tired, I'll just hide you in some bushes and send Teal'c back for you later." Jack grinned mischievously.

"Wow, you're just full of knee slappers today aren't you?"

"What can I say, Danny? When you got it, you got it."

"Which you obviously don't."

"Oooh, blood loss and dehydration makes for one crabby archeologist," Jack teased back, enjoying the return of their banter more than he would ever admit. He realized Daniel's little siesta couldn't have been that helpful…especially when plagued with nightmares, but he was relieved to see Daniel being Daniel again—his good 'ole witty, if not sarcastic self.

Carter says that Daniel has been hanging around him for too long. _This_ brought a smile to Jack's face.

After taking a few more guarded sips, Daniel handed the canteen back to Jack. "Well, if we're going, we'd better go now—before I come to my senses and let you knock me out. Not a word, Jack." he added at the opening of Jack's mouth.

"What?" Jack feigned innocence and was rewarded with a knowing glare from _both_, Daniel _and _their precious guide.

"**What**?"

~*~SG1~*~

_HomeHomeHomeHome,HomeHomeHomeHome,HomeHomeHomeHomeHomeHomeHome Home._

Those "Meow Mix" kitties had nothing on Daniel.

He couldn't wait. They were so close.

He could already taste the mountain's recycled air, imagine the klaxons abruptly yanking him out of sound sleep and hear Jack complaining about hospital chairs not being so hospitable.

He ached to sleep. He already decided that he was going to, for _at least_ three days…make that a week. He had _thought_ he was exhausted when Chakka took him on a little cross country hike, but being supported almost completely now by Jack, he realized that it didn't even compare.

At this point, not even a hot shower could curb him from belly flopping onto the first bed he sees. Oooh, and coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Just smelling it would probably give him a caffeine high right about now.

And just beyond those trees lay the ticket to them all. Just a few more feet and they'll be in the clearing. Just a few more seconds and Cornelius will return with the all clear.

Just a few more…

"Colonel!"

_Uh oh. That doesn't sound good._

He could feel Jack let up and tighten his grip so Daniel wouldn't lose his balance after stopping their memento.

"What is it, Wallas?"

"The aircraft isn't at the rendezvous point and I can't reach anybody on the radio. I also detected movement on the other side of the clearing."

"Oi."

_So very, very, very close…_

_"There is immunity in reading, immunity in formal society, in office routine, in the company of old friends and in the giving of officious help to strangers, but there is no sanctuary in one bed from the memory of another. The past with its anguish will break through every defense-line of custom and habit; we must sleep and therefore we must dream."_

_- Cyril Connolly_

**Part IV- The End **

Jack wearily opened his eyes. The nightmarish events of last week had been revisiting him in his dreams again, leaving him more exhausted than he had been before falling asleep.

It had been six days since Daniel had died saving his life. Six days since Jack had left a piece of his sanity lying in that God forsaken jungle. Six days since his world had come crashing down around him…

Six days…

/~*~SG1~*~/

_"The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a Wilderness." _

_- Havelock Ellis_

When Jack saw Cornelius running towards them and felt Daniel tense…he knew he should have set his VCR to tape, "The Simpsons."

"Oi."

_Hell was easier getting out of than this damn jungle. _

Watching as Cornelius tried, unsuccessfully, to hail someone on the radio again, Jack decided that he wanted to know…and he wanted to know **now**, why there wasn't such a thing called a "simple" rescue mission.

There were "simple" schemes to get rich quick. There were "simple" steps to reduce your risk of heart disease. "Simple" steps to reduce global warming. Jack had even seen a book on "simple" rules for taking over the world.

But _no one_ had ever thought to come up with the "simple" rescue mission.

After hearing Cornelius' radio crackle vacantly for the fifth time in a row, Jack couldn't help but ask him if he even had it on the right frequency.

"Of course, Colonel," was the only reply he got, and suddenly the weight of the world Jack had been carrying around all day, got heavy.

Bowing his head, Jack rubbed his brow. "Could this day get any worse?"

Looking up, he realized that he had asked his question out loud. "I'm just saying—so far, we've been shot at, nearly talked into a coma, and bungee jumping…_**without **_the bungee, I might add." Not to mention, he had almost lost his best friend for the maximum amount of times allotted in one day.

When the only response he got was a couple of raised eyebrows, he digressed with a huff. "So, what now?"

"You will surrender and tell us how to work the device."

Eyeing the next obstacle that stood between them and home, Jack's grip unconsciously tightened around Daniel. "What the…? Did somebody send out memos, or something?" he demanded, as a band of rebels gathered around them.

"It would be wise for you, señor, to drop your weapon and have your friend come with us," said a not so very attractive bad guy, who looked to Jack like he had spinach for teeth.

"Ooh, I don't think so."

"Jack."

"Not a word, Daniel." There was no way he was going to let them take Daniel._ For crying out loud,_ he had just gotten him back. He was getting Daniel out of there—even if he had to die, ascend, break some rules and kick some rebel ass to do it. Daniel was going home. He just had to figure out how.

_Damnit! How hard could it be to get one archeologist home alive? _

"If you do not surrender him over to us, we will simply kill you both now."

_Apparently very hard._

Jack risked a glance at Cornelius. He'd just been standing there, motionless. Hoping that his inaction was due to his planning of action, Jack set up to give him more time.

"Listen…why don't we be rational about …?"

A dozen automatic weapons leveling on him and Daniel answered his question. "Ooor, not."

Looking back at Cornelius, Jack found that he now had his gun, _Jack's_ gun, trained on them as well. _Perhaps I didn't underestimate him after all._

Those of SG-1 who were present, spoke in unison. "Mummy see, mummy do."

~*~SG1~*~

_"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."_

_- Sir Walter Scott_

"I'm sorry, Colonel. My intention is not to kill either you, or Dr. Jackson. It is only to learn how to work the device."

"Aaahh, yeaah, you can call me Jack." Turning towards Daniel, he added, "That list Daniel…"

"Just got bigger," the younger man finished.

"Colonel…"

Jack raised his hand. "I just…sorry, I'm a little confused. Comes with old age, you know."

Cornelius sucked in a breath. For some unexplainable reason, he felt he owed these two extraordinary friends an explanation…and so, he was going to give them one. "Handez was my wife's brother. I joined his cause when I married Eliena. Why not, eh?" He shrugged. "America did not appear to have anymore use for me. So, I pledged my allegiance to _both_ Handez and Eliena as Eliena and I kissed for the very first time as husband and wife."

Instead of lunging at Cornelius, beating him to a pulp and getting both him and Daniel killed; Jack used his other favorite way to vent frustration…his mouth. "Ooh, I just love a sappy story," he enthused sarcastically. "What about you, Daniel?"

He could feel his friend getting heavier in his arms—the price it cost him to look defiant. But, despite the fact that he could barely stand…Daniel's mouth worked just as well as Jack's. "Oh yeah, pass the Kleenex, please."

Cornelius, having grown accustomed to their smart ass remarks, continued as if unfazed. "Over the months, it became clearer and clearer that Handez's agenda did not match that of mine and my wife's. My brother-in-law's hunger for power began to seriously interfere with our objective."

"Money." Jack supplied for him.

Cornelius tried to ignore the agitated looks he was getting from all around. "There were others that also did not approve of Handez's…overwhelming new interest. So, we assembled our own faction and waited for the right moment to take over."

"Which is why you had no problem killing his men," Daniel supplied.

"Sooo, why did you need us? And what was with that whole thing about your wife?" Jack asked, waving a hand in the air and stalling for hope the best he could.

"We had heard from some operatives—whom we still had working for Handez, about some captured scientists and a magical device. It was when I got a call from an old friend, telling me to help you in any means possible, that I knew it was something big. And seeing that the United States was sending a valuable member on an unauthorized rescue mission, we knew they'd have our government looking the other way."

"So you used us to get the artifact across the border."

"Yes Dr. Jackson, but I had to be sure the colonel could pull it off. If he did not succeed in rescuing you, no doubt it would leave my wife and I in hiding. Handez would not have stopped until he had his revenge."

"And how did you …?"

"When I told you, Colonel, that I could not carry out the mission as initially planned, your determination did not falter. I was impressed by your loyalty. I knew you would not fail this man."

"She didn't mind you killing her own brother?" Daniel asked. The last thing he needed was to start feeling all mushy inside. His body was dealing with enough as it was.

"**I**did not kill Handez. Though I would have if the situation had presented itself. And as for my wife, she loves to shop and the money we will be…acquiring for this piece will no doubt allow her to shop as much as her heart desires," he answered, resting his arm on _Jack's _P-90.

"Awe…nothing says love like treason and murder," Jack quipped.

"Think what you will, Colonel, but there is no need for you or Dr. Jackson to die today. Your scheduled pick up is in less than one hour. You two can either tell us how to work the artifact and go home, _or_ Colonel, the official report will say that you died trying to save your friend…who also, unfortunately, did not make it."

"I'd prefer not to kill you. However, my comrades here could not care less if you walked out of here alive," he finished, gesturing to his crew.

"Honorable man." Jack's words dripped with sarcasm. He bet their former guide had pushed Humpty Dumpty himself.

"I like to think so."

"Is this what you call being a hero?"

"To my men…to _my _family, yes."

"I see. What makes you…?" Jack's words stopped with his breath when he felt Daniel fall. "**Daniel**!"

~*~SG1~*~

Daniel really didn't think he'd be able to stand much longer. The simple action of breathing was leaving him exhausted—as an invisible heaviness crushed his lungs, leaving them struggling for oxygen.

Time was also beginning to slow again. But instead of getting clearer, the world was getting dim; beginning to look and sound as oppressed as his lungs felt. He desperately tried to keep his head up and eyes focused on the wall of muscles and guns, but he could feel he was losing the battle.

Lightheadedness caused his body to sway, and the mass in his chest threatened to pull it down. Finally, the combined feelings of weightlessness and heaviness confused his equilibrium and caused his knees to buckle.

Thankfully, Jack had kept to his promise and tightened his grip before Daniel ended up sprawled unceremoniously on the ground.

~*~SG1~*~

"_We acquire the strength we have overcome."_

_- Ralph Waldo Emerson_

_Damnit, Daniel! Don't do this to me._

Jack eased Daniel onto the ground. Kneeling down beside him, he begged the heavens and all that was ungoa'uldly that he was still breathing.

_Come on, Daniel. We're so close. Just fifty more yards and we'll be as good as home._

Seeing that he was still breathing, but not in the best of ways, Jack's concern didn't diminish any. "Daniel?"

After what seemed like an eternity and a thousand faltered heartbeats later, Daniel finally opened his eyes. "I'm okay," he wheezed. "Ju…just thought I'd get a little more comfortable."

"Right." Unconvinced, Jack checked his pulse and was alarmed to find it racing under his pale skin.

_Damnit_.

Keeping a hand on Daniel's arm and looking back at their spectators, Jack was surprised to see concern in Cornelius' eyes. If _he _looked concerned, than Jack must look like shit.

Throwing his military training to the wind, Jack let the enemy see his weakness. "If you don't let me take this man out of here right now, he will die." He pleaded just as much with his eyes as he did with his words. It was an uncommon act made necessary by his desperation.

"If you do not tell us how to work the device, he will die." Cornelius' own tone deceived his eyes.

Sighing, Jack rest an arm across a knee he had brought up. _Well, this is getting nowhere fast. _

Looking back down at his friend, Jack was troubled to find that Daniel was losing his grip on consciousness even faster. "Come on, buddy. Stay with me," he pleaded, lightly cupping his best friend's clammy cheek and ignoring their all guns and no hearts audience.

At the sound of Jack's plea, Daniel managed to briefly open his eyes, and again, Jack was taken aback by the amount of trust they held. Even in the most seemingly hopeless situations, Daniel truly believed that he would get him home.

Jack could only pray that it was in time.

Suddenly, a breeze danced across Jack's worried heart, and he could tell by the hope it carried that it was not a force created by Mother Nature. It was their ride…and by the looks of it, reinforcements as well. He was already pulling Daniel to cover, when bullets started to fly and men began dropping from the jungle's canopy.

"Wha…wha's happn'ng?" Daniel asked anxiously, his eyes flying open when he felt himself being dragged across the jungle floor.

Ducking behind a tree, Jack pulled the younger man up beside him. Adrenaline wildly pumped through his veins at the prospect of finally ending this little game of cat and mouse and getting Daniel home where he belonged. "The cavalry's here, Dannyboy. In just a few short minutes, you'll be tucked safe and uncomfortable on the next stretcher outta here," he reassured, pulling out his 9 millimeter and firing back at the scattering rebels.

Bullets pierced the wind as they eagerly hunted out their targets. Left, right, back and forth they searched in a macabre dance, leaving the victims dizzy before the lethal strike. Smoke filled the air and pooled just under the canopy—ghosts of war, perhaps.

As the dizzying and hair raising minutes passed, Jack turned and checked on his charge as much as he dared. Sweat coated his best friend's features as he struggled to control his breathing. And the drops that ran down his fevered flesh carried an unnatural tint of red from the blood gathered in their descent.

Jack would be a happy man if he never had to see Daniel's blood again. Red was not a color he liked on his archeologist—especially since he always seemed to be bathed in it.

"Here, take this." Jack placed his back up in Daniel's limp hand. He doubted the linguist even had the strength to use it, but it oddly reassured him just to know he had it.

Turning his attention back to the battle, Jack tried to swallow the urge to just throw Daniel over his shoulder and run like hell until he was safe.

If only they were bullet proof.

He could feel the tremors running through the body beside him as he defended their position. He could hear the gun flop carelessly in his friend's hand by its force.

And Jack begged the bastards to come out and play. Because every bullet Jack fired, he counted as a step closer to home.

_One guerrilla…two guerrillas…three guerrillas dead, _he sing-songed. It wasn't that he was taking pleasure in killing the two-timing, backstabbing sons of bitches…not…_entirely_, anyway. He just wanted to get Daniel home.

He wanted to give Janet a hard time when she threatened to have him surgically removed from Daniel's bedside. He wanted to give the nurses a hard time, by playing with their instruments as they tried attending to Daniel. He wanted to see the relief in his teammates eyes…including Daniel's, the second they arrived under the mountain's artificial lights.

But ultimately, he just wanted to sit beside his best friend and watch the bruises fade.

~*~SG1~*~

He sat listlessly, too exhausted anymore to keep fighting his body's quakes. Daniel absorbed the sounds of battle like a dirty but desperately needed blanket. It was almost over. And suddenly, he realized, that he couldn't remember how it had begun.

Tracing events backward through time, Daniel stumbled into the beginning of this insane chapter of his life, and was caught off guard by a renewed sense of loss and pain. But, to his surprise, there was something else too. Something even _more_ overwhelming than hurt and despair.

Loyalty.

Friendship.

Love.

These three things made Daniel realize that he was going to be okay when he saw it coming and reacted to it before his battered body could resist. Raising the gun in a hand, that could barely lift itself moments before, and a body that could barely stand, Daniel threw himself between Jack and his would be assassin.

~*~SG1~*~

"_They never fail who die in a great cause."_

_- Lord Byron_

Shooting off a few more rounds, Jack turned just in time to see Daniel _standing_ behind him, emptying his entire clip into one of the rebels. When he just watched the man slump to the ground, and didn't move, Jack got worried. "Daniel?"

Slowly, Daniel turned around, seemingly oblivious to the battle going on in slow motion around him. As their eyes locked, Jack found himself wrapped up in the same distorted scene—and suddenly, the near deafening gunfire and yelling was dulled to an almost indiscernible level.

…and the only thing that really existed were Daniel's eyes.

The blue orbs that had once screamed exhaustion and pain, now whispered relief, gratitude and, to Jack's horrid realization…goodbye.

"Daniel!" he cried out as his world abruptly sped up and came crashing down. Catching him, they both fell to the ground. Pulling him into his lap, Daniel's eyes were squeezed shut, just as tightly in pain, as his hand around Jack's arm was. Blood swelled from his abdomen, carelessly dripping his precious life all over the jungle's floor.

_God, no…_

"Jesus, Daniel." Jack trembled in shock, cupping one hand over his best friend's cheek while the other begged the bleeding to stop. "**Medic**! I need a medic!" Voice choked with emotion, he screamed over the battle that still raged around them.

_This can't be happening. This can't be happening._

But he could feel him slipping away, taking Jack's sanity along with him. "Daniel, stay with me. Daniel? **Daniel**!" he cried. "Hang on…come on, damnit. **Hang on**!"

Jack was shaking just as badly as Daniel now. And tears were spilling from his eyes, just as quickly as Daniel's life spilled from his body.

"God…Daniel, don't do this to me,"he pleaded, watching in horror, as the hand that had once needed to be pried off of him, loosened…and the tremors that had been plaguing his friend for days…faded.

_No…_

~*~SG1~*~

Words danced on his tongue, but they were never offered release. He wanted to tell Jack that he was okay. That he'd _be _okay. But breath would no longer come…and so, neither would words.

He faded to the muffled echoes of Jack's pleas and the resounding beat of their rescuers' wings as it hovered near by.

_Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump _

"Daniel! Stay with me, Daniel. **Daniel**!"

_Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump … _

/~*~SG1~*~/

_"There is immunity in reading, immunity in formal society, in office routine, in the company of old friends and in the giving of officious help to strangers, but there is no sanctuary in one bed from the memory of another. The past with its anguish will break through every defense-line of custom and habit; we must sleep and therefore we must dream."_

_- Cyril Connolly_

_Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep… _

Jack woke to the rhythm of his best friend's heart. The nightmarish events of last week had been revisiting him in his dreams again, leaving him more exhausted than he had been before falling asleep.

It had been six days since Daniel had died saving his life.

Six days.

_Five_ days, twenty-three hours and fifty-eight minutes since they had gotten his heart beating again and two days since they had transported him back to the mountain.

In that time, Daniel had yet to open his eyes and had stopped breathing on more occasions than Jack cared to count before they could get him hooked up to a ventilator.

Jack had also kissed Janet an absolutely humiliating number of times for being on that rescue chopper. Sometimes he really loved that Napoleonic power monger.

It was close…too damn close, as usual. While sitting for four days in that merciless hospital chair in Honduras, (he swore they made those things uncomfortable on purpose) Jack's heart beat to the staccato rhythm of Daniel's. Every beep the heart monitor made, allowed Jack's the same. Every breath the ventilator forced into Daniel's lungs with a hiss, Jack forced into his—with a silent plea, to whoever was listening, that the music wouldn't stop.

_It was too damn close._

Closing his eyes, Jack let the events of the last week seep from his veins and onto the infirmary's concrete floor…at least he tried. Because a big part of him knew that he shouldn't. He shouldn't forget the fear. He shouldn't forget the way his heart had sped up and forgot how to beat at the same time. He shouldn't forget the look on Daniel's face when he went down, or what it felt like to starve your lungs of oxygen because you suddenly lost the function to breathe when your best friend ceased to…for the forth time in twenty minutes.

Because if he did, if he let all those feelings just melt away and be forgotten…then he wouldn't have to tell him.

~*~SG1~*~

_"Never weather-beaten sail more willing bent to shore."_

_- Thomas Campion_

_Home is where the heart is, _someone once said. Where your memories run and where your soul aches for, when it doesn't know where else to turn. _Home_ is where Daniel's memories took him when he was held up in that shack. It was _home _that hadlet him escape the harshness of his reality…if only so briefly, with the sweet and priceless memories of his friends and family.

It was _home_ that he could feel the safety of now.

Daniel slowly and hesitantly raised his heavy lids and was pleased to find the lights turned down. _Oh yeah, _he was home. Nowhere else would everyone be anxiously walking around in the dark, just to put his sensitive retinas at ease upon awakening.

Feeling a heaviness on his left arm, Daniel closed his eyes again and cautiously turned his head. When he wasn't assaulted by nausea or dizziness, he opened them again to find a grey-haired colonel using it as a pillow. _Eww, please don't let that be drool, _he prayed at the feel of something wet running down his arm.

Breathing in the long-awaited recycled air, Daniel couldn't remember the last time he had felt so warm and dry…well, for the most part. Tremors no longer plagued him and his entire body was pleasantly numb. He no longer dreaded the simple act of breathing, as it now came pain free and with its natural ease. Not even the searing agony left behind by the bullet remained.

In fact, the only ache that lingered was from Daniel's memories.

It seemed like forever since he had last touched his wife. It seemed like years, since he and Bill had found the artifact and nearly drowned for their troubles. It seemed like just yesterday, when Bill was…

And it felt like an eternity, since his footsteps had echoed within these walls…under this mountain. He couldn't wait to be up and about again. Though he knew it wouldn't be for a while, if only due to Janet's insistence.

"Welcome back, Dr. Jackson."

Cautiously turning his head again, Daniel found the object of his latest musings already checking his pulse.

"Hey." He surprised himself when it barely came out a whisper. And _who_, he wondered, had stuffed sandpaper down his throat?

Janet must have seen his discomfort. "Easy, Daniel," she cajoled, spooning him some ice chips—which Daniel favored like a double mocha shake on a sweltering day.

"You've been unconscious for eight days and you'll still have some residual soreness from the ventilator."

Daniel's eyebrows flew up. He remembered swimming to the surface a few times, but the effort to open his eyes was just too much and the comforting activity around him, just lulled him back to sleep.

He guessed he _did_ sleep for a week after all. Not that one could blame him. What was to be a simple mission, a simple excavation…**on earth**, turned into being one of the most extraordinary journeys of Daniel's life. His body and soul were tested beyond limits he's never imagined enduring. But he endured…and ultimately, chose life.

He chose to continue the fight…although some were not given that same option.

"You were one sick son of a bitch, Daniel."

Turning, he saw an awake and very haggard looking Jack.

At first, Daniel didn't know how he was going to get past the recent events in his life. He knew he would…he just didn't know how. But now, as he looked up into the concerned brown eyes of his best friend, who probably hadn't left his side since he had lost consciousness, it suddenly became clear.

He wasn't okay now, probably wouldn't be for a long time, but he _would_ be okay…

Because, this man beside him, along with the rest of his family, would get him through it…get him _past_ it. With a simple touch on the arm, a supportive glance, a bad Jaffa joke or just their everyday banter. Every little thing would give his heart hope.

And although hope might be just as fragile as a heartbeat, Daniel realized, when he had reunited with his wife, that is was just as powerful as one too. And he knew his family would always fight to keep that beat there.

Suddenly realizing that he'd just been lying there, staring at Jack, Daniel decided it was time to pass a little bit of hope around himself. "You drooled on me," he croaked matter-of-factly and eagerly prepared himself for his best friend's reaction.

Jack looked appalled. "I. did. not!"

Daniel didn't back down, despite the fact that his eyes were already closing against his will. "Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Okay, boys. Daniel needs his rest," Janet intervened, although she was enjoying the banter, just as much, if not more than the two. "Colonel, why don't you go tell Sam and Teal'c that D'Artagnan has decided to grace us with his presence?"

Jack looked like he was pondering Janet's words. "Don't you mean, "_Athos, _could you please go tell _Porthos_ and _Aramis_ that D'Artagnan has decided to grace us with his presence?""

"I'm on it," he quickly added standing up when all he got was, _The Look._

"Thank you, sir."

Looking back down at his best friend's sleeping features, and listening as Janet's feet carried her away, Jack wasn't totally surprised when his feigning archeologist whispered, "Did too."

And Daniel wasn't the least bit surprised when his head was rubbed and, "Jungle Monkey," was whispered affectionately into his ear.

~*~SG1~*~

"_The measure of a human being is not in their deeds, but in the legacy they leave."_

_- Scott Shuker_

Daniel had been awake, begging for coffee and putting on a face of content for five days now. The bruises were fading on the outside, but Jack feared they were consuming him on the inside. Sure, he figured, Daniel knew they'd always be there to pull him out in the event that he should slip into his sorrow too far. And he was right. But why did he still insist on wearing a mask?

_What was the point anyway?_ Jack wondered.

_Why do we clutch onto our masks, as tightly as if they were a memory? Why do we lie—what we hope to be, straight faced to our friends…our family, and say that we're fine, when in truth, we're dying inside? _

_Is it judgment we fear? Or is it our own internal need…**instinct**, to act strong even in the sole company of friends? Sure, the masks have come off, but only when they collapse under pressure from the emotions raging behind them. _

_But __**really,**__ what was the point? _He really, **really** wanted to know.

_We could see behind each other's masks, anyway. Hell, I swear sometimes we can even read each other's minds. So why bother wearing them? Why put up the front and exhaust ourselves even more? Was it just easier keeping them on all the time, instead of going through the trouble of deciding who to reveal to, or not? And if that were the case…why did it matter? Seriously…who, at least on this base, would judge anyone whose guard faltered? _

_Or maybe…_Jack thought, _maybe that's not why we did it after all…_

"So…the guy, who actually referred Jack to Cornelius, somehow found out his real agenda and contacted the SGC." Daniel was starting to get curious again and Carter was sitting on the side of his bed, filling him in, while Jack only half listened—still lost in his monumentally profound reverie.

"Yes. Teal'c and I were off-world at the time _but_," she brought up a teasing finger. "I heard that once the news reached our beloved Janet Frasier…there was not a marine on base that could keep her in this infirmary."

Daniel blushed and tried to hide it by ducking his head. "What about Hammond?"

"The General," Janet cut in, as she entered the room, "gave me his blessing after I reminded him of _both_ of your track records."

Jack snapped out of his musing for that remark and chimed in with Daniel. "Hey!"

The majors didn't even try to suppress their laughter. "Anyway…" Carter continued, clearing her throat, "we have the artifact now, Daniel, thanks to you. And the Tok'ra have already started preliminary testing on it."

"Good. Umm…" Daniel brought his arms up in a protective hug. "I can already tell you from personal experience, that it doesn't just have healing capabilities."

…_Maybe we did it for the lookers that would never see. For the men, women, and children who would learn of our tale in years to come. For those who would get to imagine, instead of **know** what it was like to sacrifice and die again and again for people they would never meet…_

Carter's eyes saddened and briefly lowered to the wrapped hand in hers. "We know, Daniel. Although we haven't exactly figured it out yet, I'm guessing it has the ability to briefly manipulate things on a molecular level…among other things."

"Which is probably why my entire body feels like it's been yanked and pulled in every direction, while simultaneously being run over by a Mothership in hyper drive."

"Well, Daniel," Janet teased, checking his chart, "recovering from pneumonia, septic shock and a bullet wound might also cause some discomfort."

Daniel hugged himself tighter. "Yeah…I guess so."

…_They would read the stories. Maybe even watch the movies and cry for our losses…but they would never feel the needless guilt or emptiness they had left behind in us… _

Daniel pulled himself back out of the jungle he had suddenly found himself in again, and painfully swallowed the memory of the gunfire that had killed his colleague. "So, what happened to Cornelius?"

"He got away, DanielJackson." Teal'c had been hovering by the whole time_. _

"And I doubt we'll ever find him," Jack added grimly.

"Oh."

When Daniel's heart rate started to increase exponentially, Janet brought her hands up in a shooing motion. "Okay everybody, Dr. Jackson needs his rest."

Jack watched, as Carter bent over and planted a kiss on her favorite archeologist's forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow, Daniel."

…_The pictures they would grasp might reveal the pain…but they would never truly capture it, they would never be forced to endure it…_

"Kay, Sam. Thanks for the cookies."

"Yeahsureyoubetchya." She smiled and squeezed his arm before finally walking away.

"It is good to have you back home again, DanielJackson." Teal'c now stood beside Daniel with his arms behind his back.

Daniel almost laughed. "I know, Teal'c. Thank you. You've been telling me that everyday for a week."

…_They would read the books with the luxury to simply turn the page, if they didn't really want to know what it felt like—to have to choose between friend and country. _

The Jaffa looked like he was about to say something, but instead, closed his mouth and started again. "Will you be in need of any assistance before I retire to my quarters?"

"No, Teal'c. Thank you, though."

"It is my pleasure. Sleep well, DanielJackson."

_In time, the SGC would become history. Our legacy passed down through generations by descendants, books, metals and so on. The world would learn of the military colonel—who saved the world with his leadership, the scientist major—who saved the world with her mind. The military doctor—who save the world with her hands, the Jaffa—who saved the world with his strength. And the civilian…who saved the world with his soul._

Daniel let the thoughtfulness of his friends that touched his heart, show on his face. "Goodnight, Teal'c"

~*~SG1~*~

Smiling at the near empty room, Janet was beginning to think that it was _finally_ getting easier to pry Daniel's faithful friends from his side. Well, a _little _easier, she added, when her eyes came to rest on the still occupied hospital chair.

"Colonel?" she approached the defiant leader.

"Doctor?" he looked up at her.

"Sir."

"Major."

"Jack."

"Janet."

Daniel had been eyeing them the whole time and after a moment of silence that had been induced by a stare off, he decided to say something. "If you guys are finished, I think I'll get some sleep."

"Good idea, Daniel," they spoke simultaneously, neither one breaking eye contact.

"And…umm, Janet…if Jack wants to stay, that's alright with me. I'm sure he won't bother me."

"If you're sure, Daniel," she said, looking at him and ultimately losing the stare off.

"Yeah, thank you."

"Okay then, I'll be in my office if you need anything," she called over her shoulder.

Jack was tempted to stick his tongue out…but he wanted to keep it.

Turning back to Daniel, he noticed that the mask of a man just trying to survive his destiny, was still in place. "Is there anything you wanna talk about?"

…_and in truth, maybe that's the way we wanted it to be. Maybe that was all they needed to know…all that we **wanted** them to know. After all, why bother protecting the world from the universe, if we couldn't even shield it from our own pain… _

"No Jack, not…not right now, anyway, but thanks. And thank you for…you know…coming to get me and everything."

"Undomesticated equines couldn't keep me away, Dannyboy."

A small laugh passed through Daniel's lips. "You've been hanging around Teal'c too much."

"Actually, I think it's the other way around."

Daniel suddenly got serious again and looked his friend in the eyes. "Thank you, Jack. **Really.**"

Jack squeezed his forearm, and with a tight throat, whispered, "Anytime."

…_Maybe that's what we **really** hung onto. Not our masks…but the hope that the world will understand without having to see. That they will acknowledge our losses, our fallen heroes and know that we did not crumble in the wake of despair. That hope may have been lost, but never truly forgotten. That we stayed standing and walked on…through our sorrow, even while our souls lay rocking, begging please._

Watching as his best friend and chosen brother settled into slumber, probably already trying to tuck the bad memories into one of those little boxes, Jack was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to tell him. He couldn't wait any longer. He had to tell Daniel what he meant to him. And he had to tell him now, incase chance would never come again.

Hoping that Janet was out of hearing range, because she would kick his ass if she knew what he was about to do, Jack leaned forward, cursing the damn inhospitable hospital chairs and their creaks.

"Daniel?" he whispered.

_In the end, one can only pray that the struggle to conceal our own emotions won't hinder, or shield our gift of knowing what the other is feeling or thinking on the other side of the mask. That, regardless of how hard we try to mask our own pain, we won't fail to notice the ones we love._

After searching Daniel's face for a response and getting none, Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair. Closing his eyes, he cursed himself for waiting too long again.

However, when he heard a sleepy reassurance whispered from the bed, he smiled and relaxed for the first time, in a very, very long time.

"I know, Jack. I know."

**Epilogue:**

_Maybe, when it all came down to it, this was the price that unsung heroes paid. It wasn't the visible scar tissue; it was the eternally seeping wounds of the soul. The ones that couldn't be mended without bringing into the very light we forbid it. It was the suffering in silence. The downcast eyes, as they revealed too much truth…too much pain. _

_It all went back to lonely nights and secret tears, because we didn't want the world to see. We only wanted it to know that we **did not** yield to the demands of survival. That still, even through the fog of battles, loss and pain, we forged—carrying on with a flood of nightmares we'd only dare to weep in solitude._

_Maybe this was the price of our legacy…_

With a self-satisfied smile, Jack brought his arms up behind him and cradled his head in his hands. "Profound indeed," he whispered to himself. "Profound indeed."

**The End.**


End file.
